Former Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone isn’t a fan of the Mets handling of Matt Harvey. Mazzone, who was the Braves pitching coach for 26 years, told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he never once had to limit a pitcher’s innings like the Mets are doing with Harvey.
“I think the thing is totally asinine,’’ Mazzone said. “Come on, you want him to go five innings, and maybe even less in his next starts, and then you want him to go seven, eight, or nine innings in the playoffs.”
“That’s totally ridiculous. You’re going to blow out your bullpen before the playoffs even start.’’
Mazzone is famous for coaching the legendary Braves rotation of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux during the 1990’s. Atlanta won 14 consecutive division titles in this span, and Mazzone is often credited for a lot of their success.
He raises a good point that shortening Harvey’s outings will put added pressure on the bullpen, and it will also make it harder for him to pitch deep into games when they need him to the most during the post season.
It’s understandable that the Mets want to be cautious with Harvey in his first year back from Tommy John, but could it be that they are doing more harm than good?
There’s no hard evidence that shows limiting his innings will prevent injury, and Harvey doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of fatigue either. He looked incredibly sharp on Sunday as he struck out seven and allowed just one hit in five innings.
“Take Matt out after five innings Sunday night, was I disturbed?’’ Collins said in Monday’s pregame press conference. “You’re damn right I was disturbed. You know what, nobody on either side’s happy about it. Matt’s not happy about it. But that’s what it is.’
GM Sandy Alderson also expressed frustration with the media trying to pin this whole thing on Harvey, who he said was put in the cross hairs unfairly and has always done whatever the team has asked him to do.
