After considering demoting starting pitcher Matt Harvey to the minor leagues, the New York Mets‘ leadership has agreed to stick with him at the MLB level.
ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin reported Wednesday that Harvey will make his next start at home this coming Monday against the Chicago White Sox. Rubin’s report featured comments from Mets manager Terry Collins and assistant general manager John Ricco regarding the Harvey situation.
Collins expressed a desire to see Harvey bounce back from the adversity and use it to light a competitive fire under him to return to his 2013 All-Star form:
This guy is too big a piece to write him off, to flip him in the bullpen to where you’ve got to pick and choose when you might use him. …
He was the best in baseball [in 2013]. That’s the guy we’re trying to get back instead of ‘woe is me.’ What he did last year, there’s going to be a period he’s got to recover. … That’s where I want the fight. That’s where the fight has to be. Quit fighting yourself and just understand we’re a support team here. We’re in this together.
Ricco spoke about the potential demotion to the minors working out for others but insisted New York made the right call by letting Harvey work out his issues where he is:
We believe the best way to get him back is to have him keep pitching and keep making progress and stay up here in the big leagues. …
Some big-name guys have gone down, and that has worked. So I don’t think there’s this huge stigma about that. I think at the end of the day we’re looking for whatever is the best path. He’s part of that decision-making process right now.
A strong 2015 campaign saw Harvey post a 13-8 record with a 2.71 ERA. Making it all the more impressive was the fact he missed all of the previous season due to Tommy John surgery.
But this year has been a far different story. Harvey’s ERA has soared to 6.08, resulting in a 3-7 record through 10 starts. In Tuesday’s 7-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, Harvey yielded five runs in five innings, including three homers.
The good news is New York has the luxury of a loaded pitching staff that helped the Mets rank third in baseball in team ERA at 3.15 entering Monday’s game against Washington. If Harvey were pitching to his typical standard, New York would be even better in that category.
Few teams have the depth the Mets do to allow Harvey the opportunity to continue starting, and he has the talent to justify the risk.
The good-faith move New York made to trust Harvey—rather than demote him, place him on the disabled list or skip a start, which were the other alternatives, per Rubin—should pay off for the club and its 27-year-old pitcher in the long run.
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