At first, there was some debate as to whether Matt should rest and rehab or get Tommy John surgery. The New York Mets proclaimed the decision was up to Harvey and Harvey initially opted for rehab and no surgery.
The poster child for this decision is future hall of fame pitcher Roy Halladay, who early in his career had the same tear in his elbow, yet opted for rehab rather than go under the knife, For Halladay it was a wise decision, He went on to have a tremendous career with the Blue Jays and Phillies, winning multiple Cy Young Awards and not have any arm trouble until late in his career.
Harvey and the Mets debated for several weeks until Matt finally opted for surgery in October and had the surgery performed on October 22, 2013 by Dr. James Andrews.
The typical recovery time was once 12-18 months for this type of procedure but since it has become so prevalent in baseball today, many players are back in a year.
Matt Harvey had 18 months between his surgery date and his first start back. Far more than most pitchers nowadays.
Jose Fernandez of the Marlins had his surgery on 5//16/14 and made his post surgery debut on 7/2/15, a little over a year later
The Cardinals' Adam Wainwright had his TJ surgery on 2/24/11 and started again for the Cardinals on 4/6/13. Thar year he pitched 198.2 innings plus an additional 15 in the postseason,
John Lackey had his TJ surgery while pitching for the Boston Red Sox on 11/1/2011 and made his comeback on 4/6/13. That season he pitched 189.1 innings plus an additional 26 innings while helping the Sox win the World Series.
While there are plenty of horror stories in arm surgeries, pitchers can endure a heavy workload post surgery.
Harvey currently has pitched 166.1 innings in 2015 with at least 3-4 starts to go.
Matt Harvey is the embodiment of an ace. Since he came up to MLB and even when he pitched at UNC, he was the guy who wanted the ball when it mattered. He doesn't like getting taken out of games. He does not like getting his starts skipped. He wants the ball and he wants to be the leader.
That is why it is surprising that the Harvey camp has made a stink all of a sudden about his innings limit this year. If there was a firm limit, it should have been agreed upon in spring training amongst team, player, and agent. To come out on September 4, in the midst of a pennant race, and proclaim that you will not go past 180 IP and not pitch in playoffs is a joke.
It would be fine had that been agreed upon in March but to have the agent, Scott Boras, come out and say that is not a good look.
If the plan all along was to have Harvey pitch and then shut it down at his limit, that should have been stated long ago.
Bottom line, the decision is up to Matt Harvey. He is the patient, he is the one with the bright future to worry about. Honestly, if he does shut it down, I believe the Mets have the pitching depth to get into the playoffs and succeed. But that remains to be seen.
It's a circus as usual with the New York Mets and with their ace pitcher Matt Harvey, The Dark Knight.
I guess all we can do is hope for now is he can shut down the surging second place Nationals on Tuesday and we'll take it from there.
-BNOLAN
No comments:
Post a Comment