WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Technically, Paul Blackburn finds himself in a spring competition, the Mets saying three starters (including Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill) are competing for two rotation spots.
But Blackburn, who is out of minor league options and due about $4 million this season, is a clear front-runner.
His stuff and health — particularly after his scare at the end of last season — are more important than his results.
On Friday, Blackburn was happy with his stuff and his health, but his final results remained poor.
The Mets righty pitched two scoreless innings before getting knocked around in his third, finishing with 2 ¹/₃ innings in which he allowed three runs on five hits (including a pair of home runs) and two walks.
Blackburn has been trying to hone a new sinker and sweeper.
He felt good about his sinker until it “flattened out on me” during the three-run Nationals third, he said, when James Wood and CJ Abrams homered.
“I’m a competitor. I’m not happy with how things ended up there,” said Blackburn, whose 2024 season ended when he needed a spinal fluid leak repaired in his back. “But I’m happy with where I’m at now and how my body’s feeling. I feel like I am going to be ready to start the season.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza also came away feeling positive about a start in which Blackburn’s fastball hit 93 mph.
“I think it’s just a matter of him feeling good physically,” Mendoza said after the 5-4 loss to the Nationals at the Park of the Palm Beaches.
Sean Reid-Foley, who had cleared outright waivers, accepted his assignment to Triple-A Syracuse.
The righty reliever could have declined and become a free agent, but chose to stay with the Mets.
“I want to be here. I love this organization,” Reid-Foley said. “They stood by me when I got Tommy John.. … I wouldn’t be at almost four years of service time without the New York Mets.”
Reid-Foley arrived in the 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to the Blue Jays, and he appeared in just 15 total games in 2022 and ’23 because of the elbow surgery.
He was excellent when healthy last season (1.66 ERA in 21 ²/₃ innings), but missed the final three months of the season (plus the postseason) with a shoulder impingement.
Reid-Foley found the bright side of being removed from the 40-man roster: He can build up in spring a bit slower and hope to avoid another injury. He has appeared in just one Grapefruit League game.
Reid-Foley said he previously had been “putting a lot of pressure on myself to be healthy out of camp, to prove to them that they made the right decision tendering me this offseason, giving me that contract.
“Obviously a business decision was made.”
The Mets hope Brandon Nimmo (knee soreness) can return to the lineup Sunday.
The outfielder ran and took live at-bats Friday.
Starling Marte (knee) could make his debut “maybe next week at some point,” Mendoza said.
A.J. Minter (hip surgery) threw his second live batting practice of the spring.
Outfielder Carson Benge, last year’s first-round pick, made his spring debut and struck out in his lone at-bat.
