Matt Harvey Wisely Accepts New York Mets’ Plan to Limit Innings
By Matt Turner
@mturnerny
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Fourteen months removed from Tommy John surgery, New York Mets ace Matt Harvey spoke with the media about his impending innings limit.
GM Sandy Alderson announced it was the plan all along to limit Harvey’s innings to keep him fresh for the postseason, which the Mets are very set on being part of in 2015. The Washington Nationals handled their situation with Stephen Strasburg significantly differently, shutting him down and keeping him out of the postseason. They failed to go anywhere that year, and the Mets took notice.
With Harvey, the Mets may take him out of games earlier if they’re already in a situation to win, skip a scheduled start once in a while or give him some rest (via the disabled list) in the middle of the season. They did something similar with rookie Jacob deGrom, which kept his arm preserved late in the season en route to the NL Rookie of the Year award.
During his rehab, Harvey has been able to reach 95 mph on his fastball. That’s very significant process and it would be a waste if the Mets didn’t limit him. For that reason, it’s great to see Harvey so compliant with the team he has so often butted heads with.
The soft limit that Alderson has set is under 200 innings. This move shows significant process from the Mets in several key departments. For one, it shows that Harvey is maturing a bit. In the past, he’s been very hesitant to do what the Mets have wanted from him including where and how long he would rehab for.
A second aspect of this is that Alderson genuinely believes the Mets are in a place where they can compete. By limiting Harvey, it shows much more belief in the team than his “90-win” projection last offseason.
It will be interesting to see which route the Mets choose, but one thing is for certain: this is an exciting time for the Mets and they may have their most opportune shot at playing a game in October for the first time since 2006.
Matt Turner is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. “Like” him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter @MturnerNY, or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google.
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