Matt Harvey can silence critics with start vs. Nationals
Matt Harvey, you want to silence the critics, restore your image and bring tranquility back to the New York Mets, well, here’s your chance.
Harvey will be pitching the game of his life Tuesday when he faces the Washington Nationals in our nation’s capital.
Who knows for sure if the Mets will make the playoffs, or whether Harvey will be making more than 50 or 60 pitches in any postseason start, or if this will be his final start without restrictions, but make no mistake about it:
This is Harvey’s personal playoff game.
Matt Harvey has right to protect his arm, but at what cost to Mets
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The Mets can snuff the life out of the Nationals in the National League East race, creating a six-game bulge with 24 games left, enabling Harvey to go from superhero to villain to hero with a few bruises in a matter of four days.
“This guy is a young star player who, all of a sudden, has something that he hasn’t had to deal with before,” Mets manager Terry Collins said on his pregame show, proclaiming this to be the most important game of Harvey’s young career. “It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.
“Go pitch good. The rest will take care of itself.
“The biggest statement he can make is to go pitch his butt off on Tuesday.”
The controversey started Friday when Harvey’s agent, Scott Boras, told CBSSports.com that it will be reckless if the Mets don’t shut down Harvey after he pitches 180 to 185 innings, giving him no more than 182/3 innings the rest of the season. It was followed a day later by Harvey telling reporters that he generally agreed with Boras without guaranteeing he would pitch in the postseason, followed the next day by Harvey’s essay on The Players’ Tribune website saying that he’d definitely pitch in the postseason.
And Mets general manager Sandy Alderson followed up Monday, telling reporters that Harvey definitely would pitch Tuesday but refusing to say how many more starts he’d make the rest of the season.
A person familiar with the Mets’ plans told USA TODAY Sports that after Harvey pitches Tuesday, he would be skipped in his next scheduled start, start one more time and wouldn’t make another regular-season start unless needed on the final weekend of the season against the Nationals. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
Mets outline plan to restrict Matt Harvey's innings for rest of season
And if the Mets make the playoffs, he won’t start more than once during any potential playoff series and perhaps could be limited to no more than 60 pitches in a start.
“I can’t even tell you what I’ve proposed is going to be acceptable,” Alderson said. “Let’s wait and see what happens.”
Said Collins: “Matt and I talked at length. You can talk postseason all you want. We’ve got to get there.
“And he’s going to be a big piece to get there.”
But let’s be clear here. The Mets might not get to the postseason without Harvey.
The Mets can use a six-man rotation all they want and start Harvey only once after Tuesday, but the rotation is fragile without him.
Jon Niese, who was lit up again Monday, has a 10.53 ERA in his last four starts.
Steven Matz is a rookie who has made one start since July 15 and left his last start with a blister.
Logan Verrett, who would replace Harvey in his skipped starts, has one major league start in his career.
And Bartolo Colon is 42 years old.
The Mets need Harvey if they are to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2006. If they win the NL East and Harvey is available to pitch in the postseason, all would be forgiven.
Maybe Harvey’s image, which was left in tatters over the weekend, with the New York tabloids mocking him in scathing columns — calling him everything from a quitter to a fraud — is largely restored.
Mets legend Dwight Gooden ripped Harvey on Twitter, Mets announcers Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen argued on-air about whether he should not pitch or keep going and players across the league were debating what he should do.
“It’s a complicated question,” veteran Los Angeles Angels closer Huston Street told the Los Angeles Times. “If someone is worth $300 million and they blow out and they never earn $300 million, that’s one thing.
“The other side is, can you live with yourself knowing you could have helped your team win a World Series?”
The Mets could make it easy on Harvey, of course, just as the Nationals did with Stephen Strasburg in 2012, and shut him down, no matter how much he resisted. Yet the Mets are placing the decision squarely on Harvey’s shoulders.
Boras could have made it easier on Harvey, too, by keeping his disagreement with the Mets over Harvey’s innings limit behind closed doors.
And Harvey could have made it easier on himself by simply telling reporters he planned all along to pitch in the postseason — even if it costs him a few regular-season starts — instead of waiting to reveal his inner thoughts only on The Players’ Tribune.
Harvey, who has not spoken to reporters since Saturday, hopefully will explain his thoughts loud and clear Tuesday.
No more acts of bravado.
No more pretending to be outraged over a six-man rotation or skipped starts.
No more tough-guy act.
It’s time for Harvey to admit that he’s worried about throwing more than 180 innings after missing all of last season recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery, knowing that a second surgery is a death knell to a career.
And that’s Ok.
It’s his career. His arm is potentially worth at least $200 million, with free agency three years away. He has the right to protect it.
“As an athlete, when your surgeon explains to you the risks of exceeding a certain number of innings, it can be alarming. You listen,” Harvey wrote on The Players’ Tribune. “I love to play baseball and I love winning even more. I would not give that up for anything. I also know I want to be able to play and win for a long time. But there has never been a doubt in my mind: I will pitch in the playoffs. I will be healthy, active and ready to go.”
Who knows whether Harvey will damage his arm if he pitches past 180 innings two years after having Tommy John surgery? Yet, if he soars past 200 innings, he might be red-lining his arm into dangerous territory.
No one has got this Tommy John epidemic figured out. The best surgeons in the world have no idea how to best protect pitchers’ elbows. They’ve got ideas and recommendations but have yet to come up with a solution.
Maybe it’s a gamble to keep pitching, but Harvey realizes he has no choice. He has an obligation to the Mets, their fans and, most of all, his teammates.
“I understand the risks,’’ Harvey wrote. “I am also fully aware of the opportunity the Mets have this postseason. Winning the division and getting to the playoffs is our goal.
“Once we are there, I will be there.”
Really, he has no choice.
If Harvey, who’s 12-7 with a 2.60 ERA, has a brilliant outing, and the Mets win, he’s back in full control, sitting atop of the world in New York, back as the Dark Knight.
It’s showtime, Harvey’s playoff game in September.
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