Dominic Smith may have handled duties at first base down the home stretch of the 2017 season, but his job security for 2018 is far from certain.
Upon arriving at the GM meetings on Monday, Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said the 22-year-old hasn’t earned an everyday job yet.
“He didn’t win it in September, let’s put it that way,” Alderson said.
Smith appeared in 49 games for New York this past season and hit .198/.262/.395 with nine homers and 26 RBI in 183 plate appearances.
In the field, he committed two errors while having a -7 DRS and -0.8 UZR in 378 innings.
Alderson also added that his weight is something that is going to have to be worked on going forward.
“Dominic’s going to have to be careful about his conditioning, certainly in the next few years if not throughout his career,” he said.
There have been rumors of supplanting Smith at first base, most notably on Tuesday when Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reported that the Mets are interested in pursuing Carlos Santana.
Santana, 31, will likely command a multi-year deal on the open market. If New York were to sign him, the Mets could consider dealing Smith or demoting him to Triple-A.
Either way you split it, Smith might need more time in the minors regardless of what they do this offseason.
While I think the Santana interest is all smoke and mirrors unless they really are adamant about trading Smith, I think it’s conceivable they could bring in a short term option like Adam Lind or Daniel Nava to play first and/or split time with Wilmer Flores at the position.
