Brrrrrrrrrrvey

Matt Harvey is due to pitch on Saturday for the Mets. That's the good news. (It's always the good news.) The bad news is that he's due to pitch in Minneapolis, where right now there's a ton of snow on the ground, and the forecast for the next three days looks cold. Very cold.

The saving grace for Harvey is that Saturday is a 4:15 start instead of an 8:00 start, which Jon Niese has to deal with on Friday where the "real feel" is supposed to be 17 degrees. But at least Jon Niese has a few seasons in this league. Matt Harvey has a still developing arm you want to protect. So my question to you, and the Mets, is this: Is there a way to either pitch Aaron Laffey on Friday and push Niese and Harvey back a day so that Niese can pitch the Saturday late afternoon game and Harvey pitches in slightly warmer weather for the Sunday early afternoon game? Not that I want Laffey's arm to blow out either, and I know the Mets need length on Friday after Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner spit the bit the last two nights. But to have Jon Niese pitch on a night where it feels like it's 17 degrees seems criminal, and to pitch Harvey in a late afternoon game where you never know quite when the temperature is going to drop seems risky.

Of course, Friday's game could be wiped out and then our decision is made for us. And I'm usually the one to say that trying to plan around mother nature is random and pointless. And most likely, there really is no correct answer. But I have a bad feeling this Bud Selig schedule that takes the Mets to the two coldest weather cities in the middle of April is going to cost the Mets an arm.