One of the New York Mets’ most important objectives during the 2015 season will be managing Matt Harvey’s workload as he returns from Tommy John surgery. Obviously, the goal is to keep him healthy (as it would be for any pitcher), but also to avoid a Stephen Strasburg-type shutdown that would end Harvey’s season in September.
Skipping Harvey’s turn in the starting rotation would be one way the Mets could avoid reaching an innings limit too early in the year. But unless off-days in the schedule allowed the other starters to move up, giving Harvey a rest would require someone else pitching in his slot. From a roster standpoint, that would be easier if the Mets were able to use a temporary replacement. General manager Sandy Alderson pitched an idea to MLB on how they could do that.
Don’t often break news but here is a nugget: @Mets petitioned MLB for a 7-day DL for rest, obv. For @MattHarvey33 but were denied #Mets
— Mike Silva (@MikeSilvaMedia) December 4, 2014
ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin followed that up with a comment from Alderson. The Mets GM said that there was no formal proposal to MLB, but the front office discussed the idea of a “rest DL” for pitchers with team doctors and those physicians ran the idea by their colleagues throughout baseball.
Giving Jacob deGrom some time off during the season certainly worked for the eventual NL Rookie of the Year. The Mets are hoping for similar success with Harvey next season. This seems like an idea plenty of other MLB teams would get on board with, especially those with younger pitchers whose workload needs to be watched more closely.
