Mets righthander Matt Harvey will have his sore right elbow examined by Dr. James Andrews this week for a second opinion to help him determine if he should opt for Tommy John surgery as the Mets team doctors initially advised.
Manager Terry Collins said before Sunday’s game confirmed the news, but added that no date has been set yet.
Harvey was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Aug. 27 with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Last month, he said via twitter that he was planning on being back from his injury on April 1. But of course if reconstruction surgery is required he would likely miss all of next season.
Harvey, who started for the National League in the All-Star Game at Citi Field this year, was 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA in 26 starts this season. He was leading the league in strikeouts at the time he was injured.
Sandy Alderson said that the decision on whether or not to have surgery will be totally up to Harvey, and that the team can only advise him on the best course of action and not much else.
Over the weekend, Alderson was a guest of Jim Duquette and Jim Bowden on ESPN New York Radio and talked about the importance of this second opinion.
“Until we get that opinion and some confirmation of the exact extent of the injury, I don’t think we’ll have any update,” Alderson said.
What I found newsworthy was that Alderson also told Duquette that the “Mets were already considering adding a veteran pitcher this off season,” and that the Harvey decision will “now obviously impact the quality and number” of that veteran acquisition.
In regards to his off-season plans, Alderson still insisted he has money to spend in free agency, but the big question that remains unanswered is how much will they spend. He also said acquiring offense will be on the agenda this offseason.
Getting back to Harvey, I was surprised to learn that the Mets were planning to add a veteran arm for the rotation and that they would expend their limited resources on an area few saw as a concern with a projected top four of Harvey, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and Zack Wheeler, plus Jenrry Mejia, Jacob deGrom and Rafael Montero and a few others to choose from in a Spring Training battle for the number five spot.
Obviously, given the uncertainty of the situation, the Mets will now need to add that veteran starter. As soon as we get some clarity on that second opinion from Dr. Andrews, we’ll know whether we’ll be targeting the Chris Capuanos and Shaun Marcums of the world, or someone significantly better.
There’s going to be a lot of drama this offseason where the Mets are concerned and it’s going to be fun following along and seeing how it all unfolds.
