The New York Mets are set to begin Grapefruit League games beginning on March 3. However according to general manager Sandy Alderson, the team will take things slow with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
The team will give their young starters the first 4-5 spring training games off in an effort to give them some extra rest after a long 2015 season followed by a postseason that ran into November.
“Then they will gradually increase their workload as they would as if they started the first week,” Alderson said Wednesday at Tradition Field. “I don’t think there will be major changes, but minor tweaks that I think will hopefully keep the burden to a minimum early in spring training and we’ll see how that translates early in the season as well.” (New York Post)
Sandy believes by skipping the rotation during the first week of spring training games, they’ll begin the season with 90 or less pitches thrown and good to go for the the start of the season.
Additionally, manager Terry Collins indicated that he might “piggyback” the starters during the first week of the season when the Mets will have three scheduled days off.
Finally, Alderson pretty much ruled out any chance that Rafael Montero will be used in relief, preferring him to continue on as a starter in Triple-A Las Vegas to give the team some depth in the rotation.
