Starter of the All-Star Game. CY Young candidate. Tommy John Surgery. Comeback Player Of The Year. This is the wild ride in the young career of the Mets’ Matt Harvey. Harvey, once considered one of the league’s most confident and outstanding young pitcher in the game, is at a crossroads.
After failing to show up to Saturday night’s Mets-Marlins game, the New York Mets decided to suspend pitcher Matt Harvey for three days, including a scheduled start of his that Sunday. It was later discovered by multiple sources that Harvey had failed to communicate with the organization that he was dealing with a migraine, and would not be attending Saturday nights game. As many MLB writers reported, and as it was later confirmed by Harvey, the once Mets ace was out past curfew Friday night and played an early round of golf on Saturday morning. After his round of 18, Harvey was feeling ill. What happened next is unclear. What is clear to the baseball world is that Matt Harvey screwed up. Badly.
This isn’t the first time Harvey has had lateness problems in the past. At the beginning of the 2015 Postseason, Harvey failed to show up to a team workout at Citi Field. What’s different between now and then is one very big thing: Matt Harvey is a much worse pitcher in 2017. After coming off of Tommy John Surgery in 2015, Harvey had arguably the best season-after for anyone that had previously received the surgery, compiling a 13-8 record with a 2.71 ERA, including two World Series starts, one resulting in Harvey pitching into the ninth inning. 2016 was a big step back for The Dark Knight, as Harvey hurled a 4-10 record and an ERA of 4.86 before being shut down due to thoracic outlet syndrome, ultimately ending his season.
Now in the early weeks of 2017, Harvey finds himself struggling once again. After starting off the season nicely, Harvey has regressed in his last two starts. The suspension for Harvey could not have come at a worse time. The Mets are already without ace Noah Syndergaard, and not to forget pitchers Seth Lugo and Steven Matz.
This has become a recurring theme with Harvey. The Mets and the rest of the MLB don’t know what to expect with Harvey, as his value has gone down drastically in the last two seasons. After his suspension was up, an emotional Harvey gave a press conference on Tuesday, saying all the right things and owning up to everything he had done.
With Harvey’s relationship with the Mets up in the air, the two need each other now more than ever. Harvey said his apologies, but there’s really only one thing the Mets and their fans want back: The Dark Knight.