Tag Archives: Matt Harvey

Sep 10

Mets’ Matt Harvey Wants To Avoid Surgery

Posted on by

Matt Harvey, the New York Mets’ best story of the season before an elbow injury sidelined him until, well, who really knows when?

Not Harvey, anyway. Harvey, speaking at an appearance at a Manhattan firehouse this afternoon along with David Wright, Zack Wheeler and CEO Jeff Wilpon, is insistent of eschewing surgery.

HARVEY: Doesn't want surgery.

HARVEY: Doesn’t want surgery.

“Everything feels fine. My arm feels great,’’ Harvey said. “I’m still very optimistic about everything. But I’m not a doctor, so we’ll see what happens.’’

Harvey is scheduled for a second opinion with Dr. James Andrews next week. Harvey said his arm feels “great,’’ but then again, he hasn’t pitched since Aug. 24 against Detroit, so it should feel good.

However, that time off hasn’t healed a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. Harvey is hoping the tear will heal itself with rest, but there exists the risk of him going into next season and tearing it worse and possibly missing all of 2015.

As it is, if Harvey opts for surgery, there is a chance he could pitch at the end of next season.

“If we do go the surgery route, having it sooner so maybe I can get back in September next year if that’s an 11-month process, that’s a possibility,’’ Harvey said. “But, like I said, we haven’t gotten that far. I’m not an M.D., so I don’t really know those answers.’’

Andrews should be able to provide those answers next week. In the interim, Harvey said he’ll talk with as many people as he can, but ultimately the decision is his.

There are no guarantees with or without surgery, but the odds might be in his favor if he takes the knife.

General manager Sandy Alderson has long projected 2014 as the year the Mets could reach competitive status because the contract of Johan Santana will be off the books and the team should have the latitude to spend this winter.

Alderson said the plan, as it should be, is to plan for 2014 without Harvey, and that includes shopping for a veteran free agent in the off-season.

The Mets might consider the Yankees’ Phil Hughes, whose style might be better acclimated to the larger Citi Field than bandbox Yankee Stadium.

Hughes, battered this season, has been demoted to the bullpen.

However, he’s healthy, and at 28, is young enough to turn it around, and the Mets could provide that opportunity.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Sep 10

Mets Release 2014 Schedule; No Shortage Of Quirks

Posted on by

What are the odds? Hours after I posted on why you still watch the New York Mets, the club released its 2014 schedule. The announcement also came shortly after Matt Harvey said he didn’t think he’d need surgery. But, there’s another opinion coming on that issue.

As usual, the schedule has plenty of quirks. There are four off-days in April; the home-and-home series with the Yankees is in early May; including interleague, they make four West Coast trips, which should be consolidated; and the season ends at home with an interleague series against Houston.

There is no reasoning as to how the schedule is made, but it has been that way since interleague play started and it isn’t about to change.

MARCH

31 Washington

APRIL

1 Off day

2-3 Washington

4-6 Cincinnati

7 Off day

8-10 At Atlanta

11-13 At LA Angels

14-16 At Arizona

17 Off day

18-19 Atlanta

21-14 St. Louis

25-27 Miami

28 Off day

29-30 At Philadelphia

MAY

1-4 At Colorado

5-7 At Miami

8 Off day

9-11 Philadelphia

12-13 At Yankees

14-15 Yankees

16-18 At Washington

19 Off day

20-22 LA Dodgers

23-25 Arizona

26-28 Pittsburgh

29-31 At Philadelphia

JUNE

1 At Philadelphia

2 Off Day

3-5 At Chicago

6-8 At San Francisco

9 Off day

10-12 Milwaukee

13-15 San Diego

16 -18 At St. Louis

19-22 At Miami

23 Off day

24-25 Oakland

26-29 At Pittsburgh

30 At Atlanta

JULY

1-2 At Atlanta

3 Off Day

4-6 Texas

7-10 Atlanta

11-13 Miami

14-17 All-Star Break (Minnesota)

18-20 At San Diego

21-23 At Seattle

24-27 At Milwaukee

28-30 Philadelphia

31 Off day (Trade deadline)

AUGUST

1-4 San Francisco

5-7 At Washington

8-11 At Philadelphia

12-14 Washington

15-18 Chicago

19-20 At Oakland

21 Off day

22-24 At LA Dodgers

25 Off day

26-28 Atlanta

29-31 Philadelphia

SEPTEMBER

1-3 At Miami

4 Off day

5-7 At Cincinnati

8-10 Colorado

11-14 Washington

15-17 Miami

18 Off day

19-21 At Atlanta

22 Off day

23-25 At Washington

26-28 Houston

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Sep 10

What Is The Reason Why You Still Watch The Mets?

Posted on by

Once Zack Lutz became a New York Mets trivia answer, what was the reason to watch Monday night? What is the reason to watch, to listen, to read about the Mets anymore this season? Is the big attraction now to avoid sinking past the season-low 15 games below .500?

If you’re a reader of this, or any other blog, you’re a Mets fan and watch because that’s what you do. I’ve never liked the expression “die hard fan,’’ because it means you eventually give up and die. I also don’t like “long suffering fan,’’ because why would you do anything that makes you suffer? You might as well say “put my hand on a hot stove’’ fan.

BELIEVING

                                                                             BELIEVING

You  might be frustrated and disgusted by watching the Mets lose 9-0 to the Nationals, but it is far better than not having any Mets to watch at all.

October has to be the worst month because there’s baseball, but baseball without the Mets. At least in November there’s the start of the free-agent season, highlighted by the Winter Meetings, which is winter’s World Series.

January? You can see spring training from there, and February, regardless of the wind chill, gives us our first warming taste of summer.

It’s not like a greater force mandated you become a Mets’ fan. In some families you might be born into it, but eventually it becomes your choice to root for the Mets.

You rooted in the beginning when they lost 120 games. You rooted throughout the sixties until you were rewarded by 1969, the year of the Miracle Mets and when man first walked on the moon.

As a Mets’ fan you endured long periods of frustration and lousy ball, but once a decade you were rewarded by the postseason, in 1973, 1986, 1999, 2000 and 2006.

In a commercial David Wright said his greatest thrill was playing October baseball in New York, “that there’s nothing like it.’’

That’s the ultimate reason we watch our team, but there’s a greater, more intimate reason why you’re fascinated, enthralled or even consumed by the Mets. There was one incident, one moment, that made you into a Mets’ fan, win or lose, and lately it has been mostly losing.

If you’re willing to share, I’d be interested to know what was the defining moment, that despite a fifth straight losing season, makes you hang on for news about Bobby Parnell’s and Matt Harvey’s looming surgeries … about Ike Davis‘ situation … about the outfield for next season.

It is why we’d like to see just one more time before the leaves change Wright’s compact swing rip a ball into the gap and him running into second with a stand-up double.

I know that’s why he’s yearning for one more game in the Summer of 2013.

What are the reasons why you still hang on to the summer?

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Sep 07

Mets See Good In Zack Wheeler Despite Loss; Scott Rice Season Ends

Posted on by

The result wasn’t what the New York Mets wanted, but overall they must be pleased with what they’ve seen from Zack Wheeler this season.

Even Friday night when he walked five in five innings in a loss at Cleveland.

WHEELER: Not a kid anymore.

WHEELER: Not a kid anymore.

I thought Wheeler might have been rushed to the major leagues because he didn’t dominate at Triple-A Las Vegas, and that idea seemed to be reinforced when his control was off early. Wheeler seemed to correct the problem, but it resurfaced against the Indians.

However, after the game he told reporters his shoulder was “flying open.’’ That he understood that flaw, no doubt pointed out by pitching coach Dan Warthen, but limited the damage are positives.

What’s next for Wheeler’s development is to not only notice a mechanical issue by himself, but also be able to correct it during the game. The great ones cannot only recognize a flaw by where their pitch went, but correct in during the at-bat.

During his first two starts, the Mets went overboard in calling his pitches – perhaps in the wake of Terry Collins getting messages Wheeler was tipping his pitches – but they quickly abandoned that plan and allowed him to use his fastball.

Although the Mets will limit his innings for the remainder of the season, Wheeler, 7-4, could get another three or four starts, and should he run the table, will have won more games than Matt Harvey.

Who would have thought that in April?

Who also would have envisioned at the time that Scott Rice would still be around?

Everybody expected big things from Harvey, but Rice was easily the Mets’ most inspirational story of the season. Harvey was the given; Rice was the underdog who made good.

The 31-year-old lefty reliever toiled for 14 years in the minor leagues before hooking on with the Mets this spring. He didn’t stick because of the state of their bullpen, but because he deserved to in leading the majors with 73 appearances.

Rice was 4-5 with a 3.71 ERA, but his most important statistic was the .174 average lefties hit off him. As a lefty specialist, that’s important. Rice walked 27 and struck out 41, and could go into spring training as the lead lefty in the pen.

Rice’s season, however, ended with the news he will have surgery to repair a sports hernia and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Even so, Rice was a good Mets’ story this summer. Maybe the best.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Sep 04

Could Be Time For Mets To Cut Tejada Loose

Posted on by

A team will often speak to a player through the media, which the New York Mets appear to be doing with the potentially talented, but often moody and sullen shortstop Ruben Tejada.

Appearing on WFAN, GM Sandy Alderson said it was “like pulling teeth’’ to get him to do extra work, which is absurd.

I, for one, will simply yawn when the Mets decide they’ve had enough of Tejada’s sorry act and cut him clean.

Remember, the Mets are a building team trying to establish a new culture, and that culture doesn’t include not hustling; not thinking about what you’re supposed to do when the ball is hit to you or about the hitting situation; or laziness.

What Tejada doesn’t understand, or care about, is the coaches are there for him. If he wants to field extra ground balls or work in the batting cage, all he has to do is ask.

I won’t insult David Wright or any other hard-working Met by comparing him to Tejada.

I wrote the other day the Mets should play Tejada for the rest of the season, but I was clearly wrong. If management still believes after his lengthy stay in the minor leagues that Tejada’s head isn’t on straight, there should be no more chances.

The Mets need production from Tejada, not for his mood attitude to pollute the atmosphere and culture the Mets are trying to establish.

I don’t want to hear anything about Tejada having a rough childhood, or a language misunderstanding. Playing major league baseball is not a right, but an earned privilege.

If Tejada doesn’t want to put the work in, get rid of him. It’s not as if the Mets will be losing anything. There are dozens of players who would be eager to take his spot, and one of them could be better.

Alderson also said Matt Harvey’s injury will have the team dipping into the free-agent market, which is an obvious sign the Mets aren’t expecting him back. Alderson also said the injury, which is up to Harvey to decide on surgery, could force the Mets’ hand and bring up prospects Rafael Montero or Jacob deGrom.

He didn’t say anything about innings counts.

Finally, it was reported the Mets will wait until the off-season before debating what to do with Davis.

Why?

The Mets have long known about Davis’ contractual status and should have an idea by know. Same with Tejada.

The winter isn’t that long.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos