Speaking to reporters at Citi Field, Sandy Alderson said that Matt Harvey will be in the rotation “from the get-go,” and not start the season late to try and conserve innings.
According to Adam Rubin, Alderson says the goal is to have Matt Harvey “pitching through entire postseason,” so any innings that will be conserved would be shaved during the season.
Meanwhile, over at MetsBlog, Matt Cerrone raises the alarm.
This morning, Cerrone reported that according to several people in the organization, “prominent Mets players, coaches and people in the front office were not happy,” when Harvey was at Yankee Stadium for Jeter’s last game, despite what they said in public.
“I wouldn’t say they were angry” Cerrone writes. “But they didn’t like that it happened.”
“They had a similar reaction when he requested time off from his rehab, then turned up in New England hanging out with friends. The same can be said about how they’ve reacted to his rogue magazine features, his endorsements, use of social media and how he’s expressed dissatisfaction in public about his rehab.”
If Cerrone’s sources are accurate, it’s clear that the relationship between the Mets and Matt Harvey is definitely in some serious need of repair.
November 17
Sandy Alderson was a guest of WNBC’s Bruce Beck on Sunday night and briefly discussed how the team will manage innings limits for Matt Harvey in 2015 as he makes his way back from Tommy John Surgery.
“The key for us is figuring out a way to manage his innings this season so that he’s available to us if or when we get to the postseason.”
Alderson is looking to avoid a repeat of the Stephen Strasburg fiasco in 2012, when the Nationals opted to shutdown their young star in early September and made him unavailable for their first post season since rebooting the franchise in Washington. The Nats were eliminated in the NLDS, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Mets could find themselves in a similar predicament and I imagine that it’d be near impossible to convince Harvey to miss the playoffs.
Adam Rubin reported last week, that Alderson is engaged in talks with Harvey and his agent Scott Boras to create a plan for next season to keep that from happening.
Alderson acknowledged there has to be “some restrictions on Harvey” with Alderson himself stating that the real deal’s “capacity over the season might be more limited than it would have been otherwise”.
Among the options the Mets are tossing around are holding Harvey back a couple of weeks in extended Spring Training, limiting his innings per start early on, and a mid-season two week break.
Rest assured that whatever they decide, all parties are on the same page as far as making sure Harvey is available to pitch in October if the Mets make it that far.
