Mets' Drew Smith mulls changing bullpen routine after sticky-stuff suspension
Mets relief pitcher Drew Smith (40) reacts to being ejected after his hands were inspected during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees Tuesday, June 13, 2023, in New York. Credit: Frank Franklin II
PHILADELPHIA — In some upcoming game, Drew Smith will enter from the bullpen, jog to the infield and get asked by an umpire to present his hands, and probably his glove, for a sticky-stuff inspection — and in that moment, he will be nervous, he said.
Smith is scheduled to return Monday from a 10-game suspension for foreign substances that stemmed from his ejection during a game against the Yankees this month. As he prepares to rejoin the active roster, he isn’t sure how to approach his pre-appearance preparation, especially regarding how much rosin to apply.
Should he scale back, to be safe, given that he got in trouble last time?
Or should he stick with his norm, given that he insisted at the time, and still does, that he used his usual amount?
These are the kind of questions Smith has mulled during a particularly boring week and a half.
“It’s obviously going to be in my head a little bit, being conscious of it,” he told Newsday on Saturday in his first interview since getting suspended. “To say I wouldn’t do anything different might be a little naïve, because obviously they had an issue with it. But then again, every other umpire for the last year and a half has never said anything about my hand, and I’ve come into games where it’s been tacky like that just from it being hot.
“I don’t want to do anything differently because I wasn’t doing anything illegal. That’s the frustrating part of it. But at the same time, I definitely don’t ever want to put myself in that situation again. Maybe in the bullpen, if it’s hot and I feel my hands getting too [sticky], stop or wipe them off or something before I go in. It’ll definitely be on my mind a little bit, but I don’t think there will be another issue.”
The Mets have fared OK in managing their relievers’ workloads during Smith’s absence, thanks partially to this 10-game stretch, which has featured a pair of off days.
That schedule was a reason Smith did not appeal his suspension. At first, though, he was tempted.
The other variable: He and the Mets determined it was virtually impossible to win an appeal anyway. Max Scherzer said he drew the same conclusion when he was punished for the same reason in April.
“We just decided not to do it,” Smith said. “It’s not much of a process. It’s a panel. I talked to the union and my agent about it. It’s a panel of three arbiters, and two of them are employed by MLB. What’s the point of appealing? You’re not going to win.”
Manager Buck Showalter had about the same sentiment the night Smith was ejected: “You want to make sure you are not doing something more than is allowed . . . I’ve got some very personal feelings about it, but I think where we are, it doesn’t do anybody any good to air those.’’
Before joining the Mets in Philadelphia this weekend, Smith spent much of his downtime at the Mets’ complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where he pitched in a couple of simulated games — but not any actual minor-league games because he wasn’t allowed to, per the terms of his discipline.
It was not fun, he said.
“Ten games, in reality, you think about it, it’s really not that [long]. It’s a 162-game season,” Smith said. “But it feels so long. It really does . . . The wait is the worst part.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
