Gonzalez gone as Mets retool roster

NEW YORK — The Mets have had enough of Adrian Gonzalez.

In a series of roster moves announced late Sunday night as the team headed to the airport for a 10-game road trip, they released the first baseman, who was batting .237, and called up first baseman Dominic Smith from Triple-A Las Vegas. They also added utilityman Ty Kelly from Las Vegas and designated catcher Jose Lobaton for assignment.

Neither Gonzalez nor Mets officials were available for comment.

The roster shakeup came imin mediately after the Mets snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the Yankees in a contest marked by the same trends that have bogged them down for weeks: tremendous starting pitching, weak hitting. Mets starting pitchers have a 2.34 ERA in the last 21 games but the team is 6-15 in that stretch. The Mets have scored eight runs in their last 68 innings.

Gonzalez, 36, hardly was the reason for the poor offense, but he was a part of it. He was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts Sunday, lowering his OPS to .672. He had a .226/.278/.298 slash line in 27 games since a two-homer game last month in Cincinnati.

Gonzalez has 2,050 hits and 317 home runs in 15 major-league seasons with five teams.

His release marks the beginning of Smith’s next shot to prove himself as the Mets’ first baseman of the future. Smith, who last month said he was down to 215 pounds (from 250 at the end of last season), has had a poor year with Las Vegas, including a .260/.343/.370 slash line. He hit two home runs in 56 games.

Last year, Smith made his major-league debut in August and hit .198 with a .262 on-base percentage and .395 slugging percentage in 49 games.