Matt Harvey arrived to Mets camp on Monday in Port St. Lucie and worked out with his teammates before meeting with reporters and answering a few questions.
Harvey, 26, recently agreed to a $4.325 million dollar contract with the Mets in his first year of arbitration and is under team control through the 2018 season. He was asked about potentially signing a a long-term extension with the Mets and he certainly didn’t back away from the prospect of negotiating a deal with the organization.
“I think whatever comes up is going to come up. I’ve never shied away from it. I’ve never said I wouldn’t consider it. But I haven’t heard anything considering that.”
Last week, general manager Sandy Alderson said that while the team has not had extension talks yet with any of their young starting pitchers, it’s conceivable that could change during spring training. He also said it’s not beyond the team’s capability to lock up at least three starters if not all.
In his return from Tommy John surgery last season, Matt Harvey surprised everyone with a historically good season in his first year back, posting a 13-8 record over 29 starts with a 2.71 ERA, 1.019 WHIP and 188 strikeouts in 189.1 innings pitched.
He told reporters he feels good and him and his teammates are excited, motivated and ready to go. “My body feels great. My arm feels great. I think all of us, as a staff and as a whole organization, feel great about this year.”
Kevin Kernan of the New York Post had an interesting quote when he asked Harvey if there were any regrets about that ninth inning in Game 5 of the World Series.
“It’s something that motivates you going into the next year,” Harvey said. “Instead of dwelling on what happened, and trying to change something you can’t, you use that as motivation towards the offseason and getting your body ready, and getting your mind ready, and getting back to where you want to be.”
“We have a lot of confidence this year and a lot of knowledge and experience, we’re excited about starting fresh this year.’’
