Let’s put all of the Matt Harvey drama behind us. The Mets, agent Scott Boras, and Dr. James Andrews have agreed to a plan to monitor the health of Harvey’s elbow and ensure he starts in the playoffs for the Mets. ESPN’s Buster Olney explored the details.
As the regular season winds down and the Mets continue to move closer to clinching the NL East — their magic number is eight — Harvey, searching for a routine that will prepare him for the playoffs, will have two starts of about 70 pitches, the first against the Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball. Then he will make a start even more abbreviated, maybe three innings, in the final days of the regular season.
Harvey will then be aligned for one start in the Division Series, and along the way, there will be continued conversations. Dr. Andrews’ intention is to watch Harvey pitch, evaluate his performance, look for red-flag signs of physical fatigue, then consult with his patient to offer recommendations. For now, Dr. Andrews is OK with Harvey continuing to take the ball; if that changes, he’ll tell Harvey. If he no longer believes the risk is manageable, for a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery last year, Dr. Andrews will tell all parties. There may be more phone calls, but if all goes well, there may not be.
I like how the Mets are openly tempting fate by planning for a Harvey start in the NLDS, but their playoff chances are pretty solid right now. The team’s magic number to clinch the NL East is 8, and they can conceivably clinch the division as early as Tuesday. Fangraphs has their odds of winning the NL East at 99.6% as of Saturday morning.
On the surface, the plan for Harvey seems like a solid idea – there’s no need to give him a start next weekend in Cincinnati if the division is already wrapped up (or a win or two away from being wrapped up). The earliest the NLDS for the Mets would start against the Dodgers is October 9th, so he’ll have plenty of rest going into his start…whichever game that may be.
[ESPN]
