New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020nypost.comReady to
Dominate
Cohen comments make
Smith ‘excited to be a
part of the organization’
By Mike PuMaDominic Smith watched the new
owner’s introductory press confer-
ence and later spoke with him per-
sonally. And the vibe Smith re-
ceived from Steve Cohen tells him
the Mets have landed in good
hands.
“For a guy like that to take over
the organization, you’re pretty
happy about that one,” Smith told
The Post on Friday. “He’s a very
impressive person, so you want to
do your best to impress him as
well.
“A lot of remarks he said, that
makes you excited to be a part of
the organization. It makes you that
much more eager to get out there
and help the team win. A ton of us
are just more determined to get-
ting better this offseason so we can
come back next year and help this
team be competitive and win.”
Cohen, a lifelong Mets fan, re-
cently completed his $2.4 billion
purchase of the club and has
vowed to transform the franchise
into a perennial World Series title
contender. Included was a prom-
ise the Mets would spend at a
level consistent with
other major market
teams.
Smith said he
doesn’t want to
speculate on how
team president
Sandy Alderson will
utilize Cohen’s
money, but said he
was confident it will
be spent wisely.
“What Steve can
do financially, it def-
initely puts us in a
pretty good posi-
tion,” Smith said. “I am just happy
he is the owner and I look forward
to seeing what he’s going to do. He
said he is going to make some
moves, so we’ll see what hap-
pens.”
Already, Marcus Stroman has
accepted the Mets’ qualifying of-
fer for next season worth $18.9
million. Stroman’s return, after
opting out from last season be-
cause of COVID-19 concerns, will
provide a rotation boost for a
team in need of arms.
“We missed [Stroman] this year,”
Smith said. “If we had him I think
our season maybe would have
went a little bit differently just be-
cause of how impactful he would
have been. But he’s an extremely
dedicated player and
obviously a big per-
sonality and to have a
guy like that, it’s going
to be definitely fun
and he has some
things to prove his
own self. I know he’s
out there working ex-
tremely hard and has
some things to prove
to the world, to him-
self and I can’t wait to
see what he brings
next year.”
The 25-year-old
Smith’s season was an obvious
success: He posted a .316/.377/.616
slash line with 10 homers and 42
RBIs in 50 games, dividing time
among left field, first base and DH.
His big numbers translated into a
13th-place finish in the National
League MVP voting, after begin-
ning the season without a regular
spot in the lineup.
“It just speaks to how hard I
work off the field and just the timeI put into this game and I am defi-
nitely excited and super happy for
that,” Smith said. “I worked ex-
tremely hard for it for years and
this is something that I definitely
saw happening eventually and in
the near future.”
On Saturday his focus will be his
Baseball Generations All-Star
Game, which he is hosting in San
Bernadino, Calif. Smith and J.P.
Crawford will serve as celebrity
coaches for the event, which fea-
tures top high school players in the
region. J.D. Davis, Jack Flaherty,
Jazz Chisholm and Harrison Bader
are among the other major lea-
guers expected to attend.
“The main goal is just to bring
positivity and hope and inspire a
lot of the inner-city kids and give
something back to the community
and spend the day with these
kids,” Smith said. “I think that is
very impactful for their develop-
ment and just keeping them want-
ing to stick with baseball, because
a lot of times, especially in the city,
these kids like to play basketball
and football and other sports.
“To bring the game back here
and show we are not much differ-
ent than they are, I feel like that
just kind of inspires them to want
to stick with the game.”
[email protected]Tebow plans to be at spring training
By GreG JoyceTim Tebow is keeping the faith.
The Mets’ 33-year-old minor lea-
guer hasn’t played a game in more
than a year, but recently told
MLB.com he is still training for a re-
turn to spring training in February.
“It’s not something that I want to
do forever ... because there’s a lot of
other things that are in my heart
that I want to pursue,” Tebow told
the website. “But it is something
that is still in my heart today.”
Tebow did not play at all this year
after COVID-19 wiped out the mi-
nor league season and he was not
part of the Mets’ 60-man player
pool. He last took the field in July
2019 with Triple-A Syracuse, but his
season was cut short for a second
straight year by a hand injury.
In his three seasons in the minor
leagues, the former Jets quarter-
back and Heisman Trophy winner
hit .223 with a .638 OPS while play-
ing almost all of his games in left
field.
“I’m already behind the 8-ball in
age and time and experience in all
of these things, so of course it
makes it harder,” Tebow said. “But I
think at the same time, I try to learn
from every bit of it. And that’s all
that we can do.”
Though Tebow’s former agent,
Brodie Van Wagenen, is no longer
the Mets’ general manager, the manwho originally gave him a chance in
baseball is back. New president
Sandy Alderson was the GM when
the Mets signed Tebow in 2016.
By 2017, Alderson admitted sign-
ing Tebow was “partly because this
is an entertainment business.” But
the following spring training, with
Tebow invited to major league
camp, Alderson boldly predicted
that the outfielder “will play in the
major leagues.”
Tebow went on to have his best
year in 2018 with Double-A Bing-
hamton, when he hit .273 with a .734
OPS during an All-Star season, but
he’s still trying to get back to that
level of play.
[email protected]DOMINIC SMITH