The big story following another stinker from Matt Harvey last night was his insistence on remaining a starting pitcher. Harvey finally went more than five innings for the first time in almost a year, but the results weren’t pretty, as he gave up six runs in six innings of work. After three bad starts in a row, Harvey is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA and clearly appears to be the weak link in the New York Mets’ starting rotation. Harvey was almost defiant with reporters after the game, telling them that he is a starting pitcher and that is how he will prepare for work going forward. With expectations rising for the 13-5 Mets, time is clearly running out for Harvey if he insists on remaining in the rotation.
While it’s true that Harvey did rebound to pitch well in his final three innings, that doesn’t mean much. Pitching coach Dave Eiland told the media that “the game starts in the first inning, not the fourth”, indicating that he has little patience for Harvey’s poor starts to games. Harvey has been outpitched by Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler in the past two weeks, and there are reports circulating that the Mets may not start him against the St. Louis Cardinals next Wednesday, when Harvey’s next turn would fall. The Mets are off on Monday and could skip his start, allowing them to use the rest of their starters on turn and slot in Jason Vargas next weekend in San Diego. Vargas, who is working his way back from a broken bone in his non-throwing hand, should be cleared to return after making a minor league start on Sunday.
At that point, the Mets’ options on how to handle Harvey would be very limited. The logical decision would be to send Harvey to the minor leagues so he can work out his command issues away from the big league stage, but Harvey can refuse the assignment since he has more than five years of big league service time. The Mets could shunt Harvey to the bullpen, which may not be a good idea given how slowly he has started games, or they could stick him on the disabled list with a phantom injury like arm fatigue to simply get him off the roster. The nuclear option would be to release Harvey, which the Mets clearly don’t want to do but could become a possibility if Harvey makes the situation impossible to manage.
The Mets aren’t in a rebuilding phase anymore, and this team has enough talent to make a serious run this season. This kind of setting is not the stage for Harvey to take the mound every fifth day and try to re-invent himself. Harvey has a manager and pitching coach that clearly believe he has the ability to improve, but he should put his ego aside and let the Mets take him out of the rotation without a fight. He hasn’t earned a starting job, and a trip to the minors would allow Harvey to work on things without costing the big league club games. The Mets could easily find a way to make it a DL trip so it isn’t an outright demotion, allowing Harvey to save face and make multiple “rehab” starts in order to try and get better results. A trip to Las Vegas could also allow Harvey to explore the possibility of converting to relief, an avenue that has saved the careers of failed starters like Wade Davis and Andrew Miller. Davis, who was a starter with the Kansas City Royals before converting to the bullpen under Eiland’s watch, just earned a $52 million contract over the winter.
Since the start of 2016, Harvey is 9-17 with a 5.80 ERA over 40 appearances (39 starts), striking out 160 batters over 206.1 innings pitched. That kind of performance may not even get Harvey a guaranteed big league contract when he hits free agency this winter, let alone money in the range of what Davis landed. Harvey is clearly a shell of what he once was, which is a shame, but the Mets are past the point of hoping that Harvey can recapture his 2015 form. The Mets need to win games this season, and their best starting rotation doesn’t include Harvey anymore.
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