One rival talent evaluator detailed his take on the Mets as potentially being a very steady team in 2018, as detailed in an article written by Abbey Mastracco of NJ.com.

The evaluator said that the Mets should make a bold move and have Steven Matz in the bullpen this season.

For an elaboration on the idea here is the exact statement by the evaluator:

“If they need another lefty, Matz might be an easy transition to the pen. They can sign someone to a one-year deal like Jason Vargas or Jaime Garcia to fill up innings.”

After designating Josh Smoker for assignment, the Mets currently have two left-handed pitchers on the entire 40-man roster which includes Matz and Jerry Blevins only.

As a result, adding another lefty starter or reliever would not be an awful idea. However, moving Matz to the pen is a very interesting idea.

In parts of three seasons with the Mets, the 26-year old has only managed to pitch in 41 games (234.2 innings) in the regular season with a 15-15 record, 3.99 ERA, 1.304 WHIP, 211 strikeouts and 3.89 FIP.

Last season was by far his worst season of his career, though, as he went 2-7 with a 6.08 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and 5.05 FIP.

However, it was revealed that the southpaw was pitching with pain in his ulnar nerve which caused him to get surgery. The procedure that he had was the same as Jacob deGrom had one year prior and was successful afterward

So, now let’s examine whether Matz would make sense as a lefty-specialist.

His career statistics so far actually suggest he would not. Left-handed hitters have hit .274 off of Matz with a .353 OBP while righties have only hit .269 with a .310 OBP.

While having reverse splits as a starter is not bad at all, it does not bode well as a lefty-specialist.

Yes, the Mets have had many lefties over the last few years such as Alex Torres, Antonio Bastardo, and Smoker who have had this same issue.That doesn’t mean that they should strive for this by any means.

While Matz’s health is a concern, moving him to the bullpen will not necessarily improve that despite throwing less innings.

As a starter, it is very easy to get into a routine, while a reliever has to be ready whenever called upon which thereby creates an element of unpredictability for a reliever, especially one who has never pitched in that role before at any level.

While the Mets definitely need to find a lefty-reliever, they should not experiment with Steven Matz. He still has a lot of promise as a starter that the Mets will, and rightfully so, not give up on going into 2018.