Mets have problem with Matt Harvey
The New York Mets are supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball. Throughout April, things were looking up with the minor blip on the radar being the performance of Matt Harvey.
That blip has turned into a screaming alarm. Harvey was yanked out of his Tuesday start against the Washington Nationals after allowing a trio of home runs and taking another loss, the seventh of his season. For the folks in Gotham, Harvey has come to symbolize the revitalization of a once moribund franchise, but now he symbols an anchor.
After getting batted around against the Nationals for the second straight week, it remains unclear if the Mets are going to keep Harvey in the rotation or put him in the bullpen for the time being. With a staff that includes Steven Matz, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon, New York simply needs a fifth starter who can keep it in games. Right now, Harvey has not proven he can do that. Now, manager Terry Collins is contemplating what was once the unfathomable, per Adam Rubin of ESPN.
“Right now we’ve got to think what’s not just best for Matt, but what’s best for us moving forward at the moment,” Collins said. “There’s a lot of things to consider. That’s why we’re not going to make any rash judgments tonight. We’re going to sleep on it and talk about it tomorrow.”
Harvey has giving up at least five earned runs in each of his last three starts, but at least the Mets are avoiding a slip in the standings. Going into Wednesday’s action, New York is 26-19 and only 1.5 games back of the Nationals in the National League East.
Harvey has been nothing but brilliant since getting called up to the major leagues in 2012, never posting an ERA above 2.75. Currently, that number sits at 6.08 with a WHIP that has ballooned to a cartoonish 1.69. Perhaps it was simply too much strain last year on Harvey’s arm. After having to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2013 and missing all of 2014 to rehab, Harvey came back and was a workhorse, throwing 189.1 inning throughout the regular season.
There was talk of an innings limit from his agent Scott Boras, but Harvey eschewed those thoughts and went deep in all of his playoff starts, helping the Mets to their first World Series appearance since 2000. Now, Harvey finds himself in the uneasy position of perhaps being yanked from the rotation.
At some point, Harvey’s talents should shine through and perhaps this is a teaching moment for the 27-year-old. It’s borderline impossible to think this is how the rest of the season plays out for Harvey.
Then again, who could have imagined this scenario in the first place?
