Matt Harvey

Happy Harvey Day Returns

From the first time he took the mound with the New York Mets, Matt Harvey was special. You could see it. It was more than just the great stuff. He had the build and demeanor to be one of the best pitchers we have ever seen. In 2013, he would be so good where he would not only be in the running with Clayton Kershaw for the Cy Young Award, we would hear him start to be compared to Tom Seaver.

There was the bloody noses. The time he almost had a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox. There was moment after moment until he had to undergo Tommy John surgery.

Harvey would return from that, and he would return to being a top of the rotation caliber starter. Yes, there would be some drama caused when his agent Scott Boras asked the Mets to honor their agreement over the innings limits, but despite that, Harvey would pitch. Harvey pitched where Stephen Strasburg once did not, which at the time only seemed fitting considering the “Harvey’s Better!” chants which echoed across Citi Field.

Harvey was great in the postseason. He won a pivotal Game 3 in the NLDS. He was lights out in Game 1 of the NLCS setting the stage for a Mets sweep of the Chicago Cubs. His performance in Game 5 of the World Series was one of the best pitching performances in Mets history. He and the Mets would come THIS CLOSE to pulling it off.

From there, things went bad, really bad. We don’t need to recall all the drama. In the end, what really mattered was Harvey had TOS. It would cost him almost all of 2016, and it would cost him his chances of once again being that ace. It would lead to him being designated for assignment from the Mets, which led to him being traded for Devin Mesoraco.

After seemingly reclaiming something with the Cincinnati Reds, he would get a free agent deal with the Los Angeles Angels. After 12 starts, he would be released, and Harvey would try to catch on somewhere. He would finish that season in the Oakland Athletics farm system, but they showed no interest in calling him up. During the pandemic season, Harvey signed on and flamed out with the Kansas City Royals.

What the real story is with Harvey is this is a guy who continued to work hard. Where even the strongest willed people would’ve justifiably retired, Harvey just keep working trying to find his way back to a Major League rotation again. He did everything conceivable, and he would leave no stone unturned. That led to him signing with the Baltimore Orioles and earning his spot onto their Opening Day roster.

Through seven starts this season, Harvey is 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA, 1.286 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9, and a 6.4 K/9. No, this is not the Harvey we knew and loved. And yet, this is still a good Major League starter who is putting up a 118 ERA+.

Because of that, we are going to get to see Harvey take the same mound where he first brought hope to Mets fans after the Madoff Ponzi scheme. He’s going to take the mound where he started the 2013 All-Star Game and where he dominated in the 2015 postseason. He is going to take the mound in Citi Field, but this time as a visitor.

Harvey did more and went through far more than anyone could’ve imagined. It will be tough to see him facing the Mets, but as a Mets fan, you can’t help but root for him. Orioles uniform or not, seeing Harvey on the Citi Field mound makes this a great day. In fact, we can once again celebrate and say “Happy Harvey Day!”

Marcus Stroman Is Pitching, What’s Your Complaint Now?

As has been the case with him over the past year (probably longer), Marcus Stroman has been a lightning rod for criticism. In terms of the New York Mets, it began when he opted out of the 2020 season, but there’s a possibility it began sooner than that.

In terms of that, Stroman was open and honest he was afraid of the outbreaks in Miami and St. Louis, and he had family members who were high risk. Rather than accept his explanation, people opted to read malice into his decision.

Since that point, Stroman signed the qualifying offer, has worked to develop a new pitch, and he has been just about as enthusiastic a Mets fan as there is. Yes, every action he has taken has indicated he is every bit the Mets fan he was like the day he was at Citi Field for Johan Santana‘s no-hitter.

This is a pitcher who not only believes in himself, but he believes in his teammates. He openly speaks about how Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball. He talks about the talent on the roster. He talk about how great the Mets are. Really, if you look at Stroman, he pushes positivity and belief in not just himself, but also his teammates.

Still, like we saw in 2020, Stroman is going to make decisions which are good for him and his career. After seeing how Matt Harvey‘s career has transpired, we should have learned by now that’s not being selfish, but also, smart. The best ability you can give your team is availability, and if you hit the IL because you unnecessarily pushed it, you’re no longer available.

After the ridiculous decision to start the game against the Miami Marlins which was then suspended due to rain, Stroman announced his frustration he was not available again for five more days. He put in all that work, and it was all for naught. Of course, people opted to take that as Stroman being selfish and not team-first.

As an aside, the reason the Mets did not go with a six man rotation this year was because deGrom voiced his objections. Like all starting pitchers, deGrom is a creature of routine, and he didn’t want anything messing with his routine. What’s interesting is when this was Harvey, he was vilified, and for Stroman, when he said he wanted to stick to his routine, he was criticized.

Well, now, Stroman threw a bullpen session, and he declared himself good to pitch in the doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies. Once again, Stroman is stepping up and helping the team. He is doing it when few pitchers would be willing to pitch on one day’s rest.

Now that he is doing that, the people who refuse to embrace him, need to find another reason to criticize him. Better yet, instead of going that route, they should probably embrace him and acknowledge they’re getting to see not just one of the best pitchers in baseball, but also a positive individual who only seeks to build up everyone around him.

Jed Lowrie And Zack Wheeler Have Outhit Mets Roster And Other Alarming 2021 Stats

After being unable to make more than eight hitless pinch hitting attempts over two years, Jed Lowrie has out-hit the entire Mets team in 2021. For that matter, so has Zack Wheeler.

So much for the universal DH.

Wheeler also has more strikeouts than anyone on the Mets pitching staff including Jacob deGrom. For that matter, so has Matt Harvey. In fact, Harvey has struck out more batters than the entire Mets staff combined.

If you think that’s scary, consider Chris Flexen does as well. In fact, Flexen has more wins that the Mets do this year. Of course, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering Brodie Van Wagenen was horrible as the GM.

Of course, we all know the reasons why Wheeler is out-hitting the Mets, and Flexen has been stats than anyone on the Mets is because the Mets haven’t been able to play their opening series.

Until that point, Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo, and Carlos Carrasco are atop all the Mets pitching categories despite their not being able to begin their season for at least a month. Of course, no one is pitching for the Mets now.

The stats are so skewed J.D. Davis is the Mets top fielder . . . and hitter. Right now, Davis can be considered the Mets player because he’s tied atop every statistic. That’s how you know things aren’t great.

Fortunately, the Mets hiatus will be over soon when they take the field in Philadelphia on Monday. When that happens, we should soon see deGrom correct a number of these bizarre discrepancies caused by the Nationals COVID infections.

Good Day For Former Mets Pitchers

Thanks to the Washington Nationals, we can’t watch New York Mets baseball just yet. What we could do was see former Mets pitchers in action.

Matt Harvey took the ball for the Baltimore Orioles, and he looked good. His slider was moving, and he touched 95 MPH. Unfortunately, he fell one-third of an inning short of the win.

Zack Wheeler took the ball for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he’d have more hits himself than he allowed. He was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.

On the mound, he struck out 10 over 7.0 innings with the only hit against him coming from Travis d’Arnaud.

We also saw the former bullpen arms do well. Darren O’Day pitched 0.2 scoreless and picked up a hold. Michael Fulmer picked up a hold for pitching a scoreless inning while hitting 95 MPH.

All-in-all, it was a pretty good day for former Mets pitchers. Hopefully, that momentum for Mets pitchers will confine when the Mets are finally able to start their season on Monday.

May Still Be Hope Yet For Matt Harvey

After a disaster of a first start of Spring Training for Matt Harvey, he rebounded in a big way. It wasn’t just the results, it was how he pitched.

Through 4.0 innings, he allowed two earned on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. While not dominating, it was a clear positive step for Harvey.

That’s what Harvey has been making all offseason after not pitching a full season in the majors since 2018, the year the Mets designated him for assignment. It’s been a hard and difficult road since that season.

One thing Harvey did was go to the Baseball Performance Center this offseason. There, he worked to not only regain velocity but more importantly spin.

Seemingly, against all odds, it seemed to work, and as a result, Harvey landed a minor league deal with the Orioles. If for no other reason, that seemed a good fit as that is a rebuilding team who can give him a chance.

That’s all we should want for Harvey – a chance. Sooner or later, you just pray it’s going to click again. Maybe, this start was the beginning of that happening. If so, good for him.

Harvey gave his career to help the Mets try to win a World Series. Hopefully, there is a second act in the works.

And who knows, with the Mets potentially needing bullpen help, there could be a second one in Flushing. Maybe, this time he comes in for the ninth and seals the deal for the Mets third World Series title.

We can dream, can’t we?

Mets Should Begin 2021 Season With Six Man Rotation

Typically speaking, you don’t like to see pitchers jump over 100.0 innings from one season to the next. The problem is with the 60 game season in 2020 nearly every pitcher in Major League Baseball is going to have to make that jump. How to combat this is going to be a concern for all 30 Major League teams, especially the New York Mets.

The Mets have Marcus Stroman, who didn’t pitch last year, and they have Noah Syndergaard returning from Tommy John at some point this season. Carlos Carrasco is still building up his endurance on the mound after battling leukemia. There is also the opportunity for David Peterson to crack the Opening Day rotation. Throw in protecting Jacob deGrom, the best pitcher in baseball, and you see how the Mets may want to find a way to limit everyone’s innings.

There’s more to it as well. None of these pitchers threw even 70.0 innings last year. We don’t know when, but it is reasonable to assume at some point the Mets starters may face fatigue and may hit a wall. As we typically see, there are going to be a few pitchers who battled ineffectiveness and hit the proverbial dead arm periods. That’s even with extremely well conditioned pitchers like deGrom and Stroman.

Really, the Mets need to figure out the best possible way to let their pitchers keep strong all season long, and hopefully, be in a position to be as strong as possible heading into October. In a different way, that was an issue the Mets had in 2015.

That season, the Mets opted to throw their five best pitchers to start the season. To a certain extent, Zack Wheeler‘s needing Tommy John forced the issue there. Beyond that, the Mets didn’t really plan for making the postseason. Their season as well as Matt Harvey‘s return from his own Tommy John surgery as well as Scott Boras forcing the issue with innings limits forced the Mets to confront the issue.

At times, we saw a six man rotation. That was something which was met with some resistance from the Mets young starting staff. To a certain extent, you could understand that as baseball players, especially starters, are creatures of habit. Considering that being the case, perhaps it would be better to start the season with a six man rotation to give the Mets starters a better opportunity to adapt.

Certainly, the Mets have the arms to pull that off. To start the year, they already have a strong top of the rotation with deGrom, Stroman, Carrasco, and Taijuan Walker. After that, they have a strong competition for the fifth starter spot with Peterson, Joey Lucchesi, and Jordan Yamamoto. There is also players like Jerad Eickhoff and Corey Oswalt who could force their way into the conversation.

In terms of Spring Training competitions, we should not that they’re terrible in nature. You’re judging a bunch of players against differing levels of competition. You may get to face a team full of Double-A to Four-A players and dominate while another player gets to face Major League caliber competition. That leads to skewed results.

One way to combat that is to take your best six pitchers up north. You can ease your four best pitchers into the 2021 season and then get a better look at the fifth starters against Major League competition. This means while you are saving your best pitchers for the end of the season, you are also getting a better look at your pitchers in what could be described as a protracted competition.

Keep in mind, you can easily skip this sixth starter in the rotation if need be and have them available in the bullpen. With early season rain outs and off days, you may not want to go right to the sixth starter. That also gives the team an added benefit to see how a Lucchesi or Yamamoto could look coming out of the pen for an inning or more.

Overall, there is a lot of benefit to having a six man rotation to start the season. Pulling it off properly requires a deft touch by Luis Rojas. If done properly, the Mets can secure a postseason spot, and they can have deGrom at full strength to have a similar run to what he had in 2015. In fact, imagine what he could do now! But before that, we just have to figure out a way for him and the rest of this rotation to navigate the 2021 season.

Mets Fans Want A Winner For An Owner, Not A Celebrity

The Alex Rodriguez ownership group is taking a really odd route to push for buying the New York Mets. It starts with A-Rod, who made the bizarre, hypocritical, and partially retracted push for a salary cap.

It’s not just A-Rod. It’s the rest of his celebrity athlete potential ownership group who are making non-monetary pitches to buy the team.

Beal thinks an ownership group should get it due to racial composition. Then, there’s Mason Plumlee, who took to his blog to try to tell us they have the superior ownership group because they’re cooler.

It should be noted that post was taken down because he incorrectly asserted Nets owner Joseph Tsai would be part of the ownership group. He won’t.

Going back to the deleted post, Plumlee pitched the ownership group as passionate fans, and from the player standpoint, Plumlee talked about things like having a good locker room and how they hate to lose. Note, he didn’t say spend what it takes to win.

He then made part of his pitch to the fan base on his group. Aside from this group of athletes (without much of a pedigree), he alluded to how much cooler and sexier his group is:

To be fair, he made a direct appeal to people who cheered Brodie Van Wagenen when the Mets were a complete failure at that point in the season. As for the rest of us, we just want ownership fully dedicated to winning, ownership who has the full capacity and willingness to build that winner.

To Mets fans, a really cool owner is the owner who delivers a World Series. It’s the owner who will stop at nothing to win. That’s why Nelson Doubleday, a literal book nerd, is the coolest owner in Mets history.

Doubleday bought the Mets, and he handed the keys to Frank Cashen. He was the man who basically told the Wilpons to shut up as he pushed Steve Phillips to trade for Mike Piazza. For fans, there’s nothing cooler than that.

A real Mets fan would rather sit next to a parent, spouse, child, sibling, and/or friend at a World Series game than sit next to an owner or GM for a bad Mets team.

They also want one who can get guys like Piazza. For his part, Plumlee isn’t off to a good start taking pot shots at Noah Syndergaard, Yoenis Cespedes, Ike Davis, and Matt Harvey. If you’ll notice, he also took a shot at Steve Cohen with his SEC troubles.

Of course, if we wanted, we could focus on A-Rod’s PED history, lying about it, and suing everyone to avoid culpability. We could focus on Mike Repole’s willingness to enter into business with people with a troubling racist and misogynistic track record.

We could dig deeper into this group to see all the positive or negative things they do, but that completely misses the point. The point is the Mets need ownership whose sole focus is winning. They need ownership who has the financial might and ability to make that happen.

With every utterance from A-Rod’s group, it becomes increasingly clear it’s not them. In fact, they only seem to confirm Steve Cohen is much better suited to leading the Mets to glory than they ever can be. In the end, that makes Cohen the right and cool choice.

Best Mets Of All Time: No. 66 Josh Edgin

The 2010 draft was one of the best in Mets history. It was not only because it brought the team future superstars like Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom, but also because it developed useful Major League players. One of those players was 30th round draft pick Josh Edgin.

Edgin would first get called up to the majors in 2012, and he would be given the chance to develop as a LOOGY on a rebuilding Mets team. Something seemed to click for him in August when he began to put together a streak of 16 appearances without allowing an earned run. During that season, he seemed to establish himself as a part of the future of the Mets bullpen.

Unfortunately, Edgin would have to wait another year to do that as he would deal with the typical ups-and-downs of a young reliever in the bullpen, and he would deal with a stress fracture in his rib in 2013. Finally, in 2014, he got his chance, and he was one of the best relievers on that Mets team, and quite possibly, one of the best LOOGYs in all of baseball.

Over 47 appearances, Edgin was 1-0 with a 1.32 ERA, 0.915 WHIP, a 9.2 K/9, and a 4.67 K/BB. He limited left-handed batters to a paltry .189/.217/.323 batting line. In the rare occasions he had to face a right-handed batter, he more than held his own limiting them to a .219 batting average.

Edgin would last the full season even with inflammation in his elbow, which was originally diagnosed as bone spurs. In the ensuing Spring Training, Edgin had to shut it down as he needed Tommy John surgery. As a result, he would miss out on the Mets pennant run. As is typically the case, Edgin had a long rehabilitation road, and he would not appear again in the Majors until August 2016.

Fourteen of Edgin’s 16 appearances were scoreless. Between that and his being out of options, Edgin was set to be a part of the 2017 Opening Day roster. In the time he was up with the team, Edgin put together good numbers including a 114 ERA+. On April 28, 2017, he probably had his Mets career highlight.

With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, Edgin was summoned to pitch to Bryce Harper. Edgin induced Harper to hit into a game ending 1-2-3 double play to preserve the Mets 7-5 lead and earn his second Major League save.

Unfortunately, he would hit the disabled list again in July, and at that point, his Mets career was effectively over. He finished his Mets career with the 22nd most appearances among relievers, and his 2014 season was one of the best seasons a Mets LOOGY ever had. He was a success story for a 30th round draft pick, and he is the best Mets player to ever wear the number 66.

Previous

1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter

9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns

13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran

16. Dwight Gooden
17. Keith Hernandez
18. Darryl Strawberry

19. Bob Ojeda
20. Howard Johnson
21. Cleon Jones
22. Al Leiter
23. Bernard Gilkey
24. Art Shamsky

25. Pedro Feliciano
26. Terry Leach
27. Jeurys Familia
28. Daniel Murphy

29. Frank Viola
30. Michael Conforto
31. Mike Piazza

32. Jon Matlack
33. Matt Harvey

34. Noah Syndergaard
35. Rick Reed
36. Jerry Koosman
37. Casey Stengel
38. Skip Lockwood
39. Gary Gentry
40. Bartolo Colon
41. Tom Seaver

42. Ron Taylor
43. R.A. Dickey
44. David Cone
45. Tug McGraw

46. Oliver Perez
47. Jesse Orosco
48. Jacob deGrom
49. Armando Benitez
50. Sid Fernandez
51. Rick White
52. Yoenis Cespedes
53. Chad Bradford
54. T.J. Rivera
55. Orel Hershiser
56. Andres Torres
57. Johan Santana
58. Jenrry Mejia
59. Fernando Salas
60. Scott Schoeneweis
61. Dana Eveland
62. Drew Smith
63. Tim Peterson

64. Elmer Dessens
65. Robert Gsellman

Best Mets Of All Time: No. 65 Robert Gsellman

In 2016, the Mets pitchers were falling by the wayside. The team was already in a precarious position in terms of the Wild Card race, and they desperately needed an arm or two to step up and help the Mets stay afloat. One of those arms was Robert Gsellman.

Starting with this debut, Gsellman would go 4-2 with a 2.42 ERA in seven starts and one relief appearance that season. One interesting tidbit about that season was he was dealing with a torn labrum in his non-pitching shoulder limiting him to bunt attempts. Despite, that in his last start of the season, he would actually get his first Major League hit.

When Gsellman made his Mets debut, the Mets were 4.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second Wild Card. After that first relief appearance, the Mets were 3.5 games back. When Gsellman picked up his third win of the season, the Mets had a one game lead over the San Francisco Giants for the top Wild Card spot, and that’s where the Mets would be in his final start of the year.

Many expected Gsellman’s career to take off from that point, but that didn’t quite happen. In front of a poor Mets defense, the sinkerball pitcher would struggle in 2017 as a starter leading to the team moving him into the bullpen. In the bullpen, Gsellman has had some great stretches.

Gsellman opened the 2018 season as a reliever, and he was great at the start. Over the first month of the season, he was 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He’d struggle to handle the workload not just of a reliever, but also Mickey Callaway going to the whip with him. Gsellman would rebound to have a strong August before tiring the rest of the way.

Again, Gsellman got out to a good start in 2019. Looking over his splits, he was good in every month he pitched but June. While he rebounded in July, he began to strain under the workload, and he missed the rest of the season with a triceps injury. Despite having the injury, Gsellman did all he could do to try to get back on the mound to have the same impact in 2019 as he did in 2016. Unfortunately, he could not make it back.

Through it all, Gsellman has proven himself to be a Major League caliber reliever, and someone who could still yet make an impact in the rotation again. He helped push the Mets into the 2016 postseason. Overall, he has established himself as the best Mets player to ever wear the number 65.

Previous

1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter

9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns

13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran

16. Dwight Gooden
17. Keith Hernandez
18. Darryl Strawberry

19. Bob Ojeda
20. Howard Johnson
21. Cleon Jones
22. Al Leiter
23. Bernard Gilkey
24. Art Shamsky

25. Pedro Feliciano
26. Terry Leach
27. Jeurys Familia
28. Daniel Murphy

29. Frank Viola
30. Michael Conforto
31. Mike Piazza

32. Jon Matlack
33. Matt Harvey

34. Noah Syndergaard
35. Rick Reed
36. Jerry Koosman
37. Casey Stengel
38. Skip Lockwood
39. Gary Gentry
40. Bartolo Colon
41. Tom Seaver

42. Ron Taylor
43. R.A. Dickey
44. David Cone
45. Tug McGraw

46. Oliver Perez
47. Jesse Orosco
48. Jacob deGrom
49. Armando Benitez
50. Sid Fernandez
51. Rick White
52. Yoenis Cespedes
53. Chad Bradford
54. T.J. Rivera
55. Orel Hershiser
56. Andres Torres
57. Johan Santana
58. Jenrry Mejia
59. Fernando Salas
60. Scott Schoeneweis
61. Dana Eveland
62. Drew Smith
63. Tim Peterson

64. Elmer Dessens

Best Mets Of All Time: No. 64 Elmer Dessens

After 13 years in the Majors, a stop in the Mexican Leagues, and pitching all of four games in relief for the Atlanta Braves, the Mets signed Elmer Dessens to a minor league deal. When the Mets signed the 38 year old reliever, they were probably not anticipating him being as good a reliever for them as he wound up being. In fact, they may not have envisioned him pitching in the majors at all.

He would be up and down with the Mets due to the bevy of injuries that hit those Mets staffs in 2009 – 2010. When Dessens did pitch, he was extremely effective compiling a 148 ERA+. That was the best of the Mets relievers over that time frame with him even ahead of Pedro Feliciano and Francisco Rodriguez.

Dessens’ time with the Mets was so good, it helped the pitcher go from a career 99 ERA+ to a 101 meaning his time on the Mets took him from a slightly below average reliever in his career to a slightly above average one. In his time with the Mets, Dessens was 4-2 with a 2.71 ERA. It wasn’t spectacular, but with relief help always scarce in baseball, that is certainly impressive. In the end, that is why he is the best Mets player to ever wear the number 64.

Previous

1.Mookie Wilson
2.Mackey Sasser
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Lenny Dykstra
5. David Wright
6. Wally Backman
7. Jose Reyes
8. Gary Carter

9. Todd Hundley
10. Rey Ordonez
11. Wayne Garrett
12. John Stearns

13. Edgardo Alfonzo
14. Gil Hodges
15. Carlos Beltran

16. Dwight Gooden
17. Keith Hernandez
18. Darryl Strawberry

19. Bob Ojeda
20. Howard Johnson
21. Cleon Jones
22. Al Leiter
23. Bernard Gilkey
24. Art Shamsky

25. Pedro Feliciano
26. Terry Leach
27. Jeurys Familia
28. Daniel Murphy

29. Frank Viola
30. Michael Conforto
31. Mike Piazza

32. Jon Matlack
33. Matt Harvey

34. Noah Syndergaard
35. Rick Reed
36. Jerry Koosman
37. Casey Stengel
38. Skip Lockwood
39. Gary Gentry
40. Bartolo Colon
41. Tom Seaver

42. Ron Taylor
43. R.A. Dickey
44. David Cone
45. Tug McGraw

46. Oliver Perez
47. Jesse Orosco
48. Jacob deGrom
49. Armando Benitez
50. Sid Fernandez
51. Rick White
52. Yoenis Cespedes
53. Chad Bradford
54. T.J. Rivera
55. Orel Hershiser
56. Andres Torres
57. Johan Santana
58. Jenrry Mejia
59. Fernando Salas
60. Scott Schoeneweis
61. Dana Eveland
62. Drew Smith
63. Tim Peterson