Reliever Salas
Fifinally in camp Key acquisition from last year pitched in WBC, had visa woes.
P ORT ST. LU C I E — Whi l e Mets reliever Rafael Montero keeps pushing hard to make the club’s fifinal roster out of spring training, one vital piece of the bullpen returned to New York’s clubhouse on Sunday, as Fernando Salas arrived for the second time in camp.
Salas reported in February, did his work and left to pitch for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic before ever appearing in a spring training game for the Mets.
Getting back to the U.S. became a problem.
After appearing in t wo games for Mexico and tossi n g j u s t o n e i n n i n g , t h e 31-year-old Salas found out hi s v i s a wasn’t i n order, keeping him from returning to Florida.
Fortunately for Salas and the Mets, that paperwork is up to speed.
“I’m happy because I’m here,” Salas said after handshakes with teammates. “I understand the rules and have my visa now.”
Now it’s up to Mets manager Terry Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen to get Salas up to speed.
“He hasn’t pitched very much. I have a lot of concerns,” Collins said recently. “I told Dan that when he gets in here we’re going to certainly have to get him in every other day for a while to get him to pitch.”
S a l a s ’ f i r s t day wi l l be today when the Mets travel t o L a k e l a n d t o f a c e t h e Ti ge r s Matt Har vey wi l l start for New York, but Collins and Warthen likely will be looking hard at Salas, who was a reliable acquisition by the club during last season’s stretch run to the postseason.
Salas posted a 2.08 ERA, s t r uc k out 1 9 and di dn’t a l l o w a w a l k o v e r 1 7 ⅓ innings in 17 relief appearances. The Mets brought him back, signing him to a one- year, $3 million deal last month.
With All-Star closer Jeurys Familia facing a possible suspension after a domestic violence arrest in the offffseason — the charge was later dropped — Salas will move ba c k o ne f r a me t o pi t c h the eighth inning, setting up temporary closer Addison Reed.
“T h e mo s t i mp o r t a n t (things) are that I’m healthy and worked all offffseason and i n s pr i ng t r a i ni ng . I practiced (in Mexico) and played catch, but now the most important thing is to stay in games,” Salas said.
The 26-year-old Montero and his strikeout numbers c o nt i nue t o i mpress t he Mets. He fanned three more in two scoreless innings on Sunday and has 20 in 13⅓ innings, plus he lowered his ERA to 2.70.
“We’ve known that I get a lot of strikeouts and throw a lot of strikes. It’s just been a matter of working on my command, but I’ve been working hard on that,” Montero said through an interpreter. “I’m using the curveball in the dirt a lot and the fastball outside.”
Collins said Warthen has Mo n t e r o wo r k i n g mo r e inside and setting batters up, and Montero is living on the edges.
“Right now, he’s locating his pitches that he hasn’t done in the past. He works the edges of the plate, and this year he’s catching those edges with all his pitches,” Collins said. “He’s starting to show us things we know he’s got.” Me ets at Tigers, 1:005 p.m.