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The Mets’ success leaves Matt Harvey with no choice: The future is now
Matt Harvey has no choice but risk his future for the New York Mets’ championship aspirations.
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Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports 8:34 p.m. EDT October 16, 2015
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USA TODAY Sports’ Ted Berg previews the National League Championship Series.
USA TODAY Sports
Matt Harvey could top the 200-inning mark with his postseason work.(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports)
NEW YORK – Matt Harvey’s personal surgeon tells him he’s putting himself in danger with every pitch he throws for the New York Mets, but Harvey is told not to listen.
Harvey’s agent tells him he’s jeopardizing his career, costing himself perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars, but he’s told not to pay attention.
Harvey’s psyche tells him tells him that he’s frightened, fearing he’s risking everything every time he takes the mound in the postseason, but he’s told to ignore it.
Harvey is the novice skier atop a mountain, and told that he has only two choices, use the black diamond trail to get to the bottom, or freeze to death.
When Harvey steps onto the mound Saturday night in Game 1 against the Chicago Cubs of the National League Championship Series, there won’t be a soul on the field making a bigger sacrifice, or perhaps a player more conflicted.
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Harvey realizes the wisest move for his future would be to shut it down, call it a season, and be there for his teammates next year, and the year after, and the one after that, while still employed by the Mets.
Harvey’s doctors recommended that he shouldn’t pitch more than 185 innings in his first season after undergoing reconstructive elbow surgery, and that he would be risking a second Tommy John surgery, which would be career suicide.
Agent Scott Boras told him the same thing, over and over again, and certainly was willing to be the villain himself if Harvey stopped pitching.
The problem, everyone knows, is that Harvey simply can’t stop pitching.
He would be a pariah throughout baseball.
His teammates may never forgive him. The Mets’ fans would turn on him. His peers in the baseball fraternity would regard him with disdain.
When he and Boras even brought up the possibly in September, Mets fans became unglued, and he was torched by the tabloids. He was called everything from a hypocrite to a traitor, with columnists demanding the Mets trade him during the winter.
“I’ll be the last person to ever bring that one up again,’’ Harvey said. “I think everybody kind of had enough talk and discussion about that whole ordeal.’’
Really, it’s nobody’s fault what has happened.
The plan all along, talked about last November, and agreed to in spring training by Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, Harvey and agent Scott Boras, was that Harvey would have a 185-inning limit.
No one envisioned what would happen next.
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The Mets got good, the Washington Nationals turned bad, and before anyone knew it, Mets won the NL East, reaching the postseason for the first time since 2006.
So they put those original plans were put in the shredder, and the revised version was to have Harvey pitch one game in the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harvey was good enough to beat the Dodgers 13-7, and three nights later, the Mets won Game 5, too, eliminating the Dodgers.
Now, with 194 1/3 innings under his belt, the Mets are calling upon him again. This time, for Game 1. And, if needed, again for Game 5.
And if the Mets knock off the Cubs in the NLCS, guess who’ll be asked to make at least two more starts in the World Series?
That just so happens to be Harvey, who would be the first known pitcher in baseball history to not having thrown a pitch in a single season after undergoing “Tommy John’’ surgery, to eclipsing 200 innings.
And you wonder why he’s taken an insurance policy out on his arm, knowing that if something dramatically goes wrong, and he suffers a career-ending injury, he at least will have a few bucks in the bank account.
The Mets, of course, could stop him themselves, just like the Washington Nationals did three years ago with ace Stephen Strasburg, who was coming off Tommy John surgery. The Nats’ front office shut down Strasburg, who was 15-6 with a 3.16 ERA, after 160 innings in September.
A month later, they were whisked out of the playoffs in the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
No one blamed Strasburg, because the Nationals didn’t give Strasburg a choice.
This decision, the Mets say, solely, belongs to Harvey.
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So what’s he going to say, no?
He’s left with no choice, and the Mets know it.
“There was a little tumult along the way, and I think he’s learned a lot from the experience,’’ Mets GM Sandy Alderson said, “and he’s probably a much better pitcher and person as a result.
“I can understand a certain reservation on his part as he got closer to what some people felt was a large number, and he got through that, and I think he has confidence now in his physical capacity, which is important for his mental approach.
“So I think he’s come through it really well, and I’m very proud of what he’s been able to accomplish this season.’’
Then again, that’s what Alderson, and every Mets fan wants to hear, right?
“Physically, I think he’s fine,’’ Collins said, “and I think right now, mentally, he’s fine.’’
Translation: You go until you drop.
If Harvey can help the Mets win a World Series championship now, perhaps exposing himself to greater risk, that flag won’t be flying any less proud from Citi Field, and those rings won’t lose any luster.
Maybe, the Strasburg situation is the worst thing that could have happened to Harvey.
The Nats believed they were at the infancy of a dynasty when they shut down Strasburg.
USA TODAY
NL Championship Series capsule: Cubs vs. Mets
Yet, while Strasburg’s elbow has remained healthy, the Nats have yet to win a playoff series. They’ve been baseball’s biggest underachievers the last three years. And a year from now, they may not have Strasburg either. He’ll be eligible for free agency.
The Mets see this. They’re supposed to have a great future themselves with their quartet of young pitchers with Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Zack Wheeler, and of, course, Harvey.
Yet, this game can be cruel.
The future guarantees nothing.
The Oakland A’s were a powerhouse in the late ‘80s, too, and were supposed to be a dynasty, and the only World Series they won was in 1989. The Atlanta Braves went to the postseason 14 consecutive years, and came away with just one title.
Maybe there’s an urgency to win right now.
“I wouldn’t describe it as urgency,’’ Alderson said, “but this goes back to before the trade deadline. You recognize you’re in a position to do something. You try to do your best to take advantage of it.
“I mean, we understand that dynasties don’t develop that often. You know, we like how we’re set up for the future, but there’s no guarantee going forward.’’
If the Mets were solely, worried about their future, Harvey wouldn’t be pitching now.
If they were guaranteed of future success, Syndergaard wouldn’t have warmed up three times in the bullpen Thursday, throwing more than 100 pitches, and pitched in relief for the first time in his career.
If they were promised tomorrow, closer Jeurys Familia wouldn’t be summoned for his first six-out save.
The Mets are going for the jugular.
They’ll worry about the future, along with Harvey’s inning and pitch limits, next spring.
They’ve got more important things to worry about.
They’ve got a World Series to win.
It may be Harvey’s future, but this is the Mets’ present.
GALLERY: New York’s potent young arms
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