What to do with Matz?

By Corné Hogeveen

Steven Matz is having a terrible 2020 season, which raises the question about his future as a Met. Matz has lost his spot in the rotation and has one season of control left. The easy call after looking at his 2020 numbers is to non tender him. Correct move?

Put him in the pen:
I always believed Matz would be able to make the next step and be a solid mid rotation starter. But how many times didn’t we see failed/average starters with good potential, turn into a big bullpen arm. Matz has the stuff and maybe he can find some more power stuff out of the pen. Is this worth a shot considering he would earn around 6.5 mil next year?

Starter:
How important do we judge a season of 60 games without any spring training to get ready? Matz came off a so-so 2019 but finished strong. Him making 30 starts pitching to a low to mid 4 ERA is something we could use. Is that to much to expect? Matz coming into his contract year, will probably work as hard as he can to regain his form. A somewhat normal preparation should help him as well? When you add a big arm, can you live with Peterson 4 and Matz 5, until Noah is back?

Reliever/spot starter:
Another way to go is make Matz a multi role arm. The Takahashi of his time with the Mets. Some long relief, spot starts when needed and some lone innings. Personally, I do not like this and find this an expensive solution for a guy you mess around with in his role. I do not see Matz handling this well.

After writing this, I can see all moves except moving his role around. I lean towards non tendering him and saving some money. If the Mets choose to keep him, I want him to be used as a reliever.

Also read: We’ll get em’ next year

6 responses to “What to do with Matz?”

  1. Dennis Mortensen Sr. Avatar
    Dennis Mortensen Sr.

    Give him time

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