Mets Morning News: Smoker designated for assignment, Reyes signing official, Callaway doesn’t expect to name a closer to begin season

Meet the Mets

The Mets continued their somewhat puzzling offseason by designating left-handed relief pitcher Josh Smoker for assignment to make room for Jose Reyes on the 40-man roster.

If you’d like to indulge in the continuation of the Mets’ “our pitchers are totally going to be healthy this year” tour, mlb.com has the latest story for you. Included in that piece: Mickey Callaway says the Mets won’t name a specific closer to begin the season.

John Harper opines that the Marlins’ fire sale is a reminder that the Mets should spend to take advantage of a weak division this season. He’s not wrong, and fellow Daily News writer Kristie Ackert says the Mets need some creative moves if they are thinking big.

Matt Ehalt caught up with Brandon Nimmo and chatted about a bunch of stuff. He also writes that bringing back Jose Reyes is not enough for the Mets to seriously consider themselves contenders.

Abbey Mastracco takes a look at where the Mets’ first-round picks from the past several years are now.

Around the National League East

Marlins general manager Michael Hill is set to attempt running seven marathons on seven continents over the course of seven days.

Speaking of the Marlins, Marcos Carvajal, who briefly pitched for the team, died of pneumonia in Venezuela because of a lack of medication.

Around Major League Baseball

Trevor Hoffman is getting a statue at Petco Park. Perhaps it’ll include a pose from that All-Star Game he blew in 2006.

Former Red Sox DH and likely future Hall of Famer David Ortiz is getting a reality show.

The Dodgers are still trying to trade away Matt Kemp after acquiring him in the same trade that saw the Braves acquire Adrian Gonzalez from LA before immediately releasing him.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Episode 268 of the podcast is up! And Jacob deGrom is open to the contract extension that the Mets keep bringing up but not actually completing.