Lot’s going on in Washington DC today as the Mets get ready to play their biggest series of the year. How big? Terry Collins called this series “the first round of the playoffs” for the New York Mets.
Here’s a complete rundown of what Collins and GM Sandy Alderson had to say to reporters at Nationals Park before the start of this afternoon’s game.
Terry Collins: The Mets plan to use a six-man rotation for the rest of the season, and Matt Harvey will be a part of it with a couple of skipped starts. In instances when Harvey is skipped, Logan Verrett will pitch in his place.
Sandy Alderson: I can’t sit here and say Harvey is going to be available for the entirety of the playoffs. So much still up in the air.
Sandy Alderson: Harvey will pitch tomorrow and again on the final series of the year vs. the Nationals. Beyond that, anything could happen.
Terry Collins: There are no issues in the clubhouse and no drama regarding Matt Harvey thanks to Captain David Wright who spoke to the Mets right-hander and eased any tensions within the team. The team is 100% focused on the task at hand which is to beat the Washington Nationals.
Sandy Alderson: Matt Harvey will not pitch in relief. Team doctors have cautioned that moving Harvey to the bullpen would be even more of a health risk than the rotation.
Sandy Alderson: I have a call into Scott Boras and we are looking to make sure we are all on the same page. I’m still waiting to hear from him.
Sandy Alderson: I spoke with Matt Harvey and Dr. Andrews, and we talked about how we will proceed with him moving forward. We will work within 180 innings limit in regular season. It’s fluid, no plan etched in stone.
Sandy Alderson: I can’t sit here and say he’s going to be available through the entire playoffs because we don’t know how he will feel. He prefers to pitch in playoffs, we’ll see.
Thoughts from Joe D.
So basically it appears that Scott Boras has gotten exactly what he wanted, 180 innings hard cap on regular season.
Matt Harvey has had his starts cut in half between now and the end of the season. And additionally it sounds like the playoffs will be closely monitored and perhaps limited as well.
The strange part about saving Harvey for the final series of the season, is that there’s no telling if that series will even mean anything especially if the Mets have more than a three-game lead going into it.
However, Alderson said he’d see how that goes because he views a start in that series as a playoff game. In other words if the game is unnecessary, Harvey will not pitch against the Nationals and instead pitch at least one game in the postseason.
Bottom line is that Harvey stays under 200 innings including postseason.
As usual Scott Boras wins. Hopefully the Mets didn’t lose.
And as John Harper of the Daily News put it, while Matt Harvey said yesterday he will pitch in playoffs, he forgot to add “as long as you stick to my agent’s innings limits.”
Personally, I’m very disappointed.
I never expected these kinds of tactics from Matt Harvey. And while I was emailed asking me to post his letter last night, I really didn’t want to until after Sandy Alderson told us what was going down.
In retrospect I wish I hadn’t. Seems as though it was merely a strategy to gain some sympathy.
Metsmerized, a Fan Site with Pride, Passion and Personality!
