Kevin Kernan of the New York Post tells us there’s a lot of optimism building at the Mets Spring Training complex in Port St. Lucie. Many of the players already in camp are excited at the prospect of having Matt Harvey back for the 2015 season.
“They are banging the Harvey drum — and not slowly. Harvey will arrive this week for pre-camp. His picture, in mid-windup, already is on the Tradition Field scoreboard with the words Baseball Begins.”
“He does get a lot of hype, but I think people forget how good he was,’’ outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis said. “Maybe it’s because he was gone all last year. I’m excited to see him throw.’’
Jon Niese said it will be fascinating to have Harvey back. “Just seeing him last year, he wanted to pitch,’’ the lefty said. “So I can’t imagine what he’s going to be like this spring and into the season. He’ll be like a bull. It’s going to be great.”
Harvey comes into the 2015 season with huge expectations, and just last week Sandy Alderson likened his return to signing a top free agent starting pitcher this offseason.
Harvey certainly expects to be the same pitcher he was before his 2013 Tommy John surgery.
However Ken Davidoff, also from The Post, says that everyone really needs to temper their expectations.
“He put up a 157 ERA+ in 2013, meaning his production exceeded the league-average pitcher by 57 percent. Is it reasonable to expect him to dominate at that level again, or even come close to it?”
Harvey’s agent Scott Boras also preaches caution. “Whenever you take a year off from pitching and you go through something like this, there is an adjustment period to return to normal,” Boras said. “This is a process, and it’s a first-time process for every pitcher who has it.”
Mets Assistant GM John Ricco said the Mets will take it slow and steady with Harvey. “Each one is a different case. You can try to find comparables, and you can share experiences, but each post-Tommy John case represents its own journey.”
Sandy Alderson said last week, that it’s very likely that Harvey doesn’t pitch the first six games of the season and instead makes his 2015 debut during the team’s home opener on Monday, April 13, against the Phillies.
“I think we need to be careful as we ramp him up to not overexpose him or overuse him early. We start the season playing six games in a row, so we might start him the home opener and not pitch him the first six games. And, I think, Matt is very amenable to working with us so he can maximize his return to the Mets.”
