After another poor start, a frustrated and defiant Matt Harvey stood in front of his locker and declared, “I’m a starting pitcher.  I’ve always been a starting pitcher. That’s my mindset.”

With an off-day and Jason Vargas not far away, Mickey Callaway and Dave Eiland made the decision to removed Harvey from the rotation.  On the move, Callaway said, “Dave and I have both seen guys go to the bullpen and come out of it better than they were before.  I think that can be the case with Matt Harvey.”  (New York Times).

Eiland was a little more assertive saying, “If he wants to be on this team, he has to do what’s asked of him to help this team win. And, if he wants to continue his career, he’s going to have to go out and pitch, and pitch well. What’s best for him is best for this team. It goes hand in hand.”  (Matt Ehalt, Bergen Record).

Considering how Harvey’s stuff has dropped off, his assertions he is really best suited to the rotation, and the team finally making the decision to put Harvey in the bullpen, there are some parallels to be drawn here with Tim Lincecum.

Like Harvey did in 2012 and 2013, Lincecum burst onto the scene.  He was more than an ace on a rotation of aces which included Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, he was the dominant figure of the group.  He was the one who achieved the highest of highs, and as we have seen, he was the one who succumbed to the lowest of lows.

In 2012, the wheels came off for Linceum.  The pitcher with two Cy Youngs and four straight All Star appearances was pedestrian.  Instead of leading the league in strikeouts, he led the league in losses, earned runs, and wild pitches.

Come the postseason, the Giants made the tough choice.  Instead of Lincecum joining Cain and Bumgarner in the rotation, it was going to be Barry Zito and Ryan Vogelsong.  Years prio, it was unfathomable Lincecum would ever be bumped from any rotation for Vogelsong, and yet, there he was in the bullpen.

Lincecum turned out to be a revelation as a reliever.  Over the course of that postseason, he made five relief appearances and one start.  In his relief appearances, Linceum was completely dominant in his 13.0 innings.  Overall, he was 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA, 0.385 WHIP, and an 11.8 K/9.

Basically, Lincecum was what we have come to see from Andrew Miller over the past few postseasons.

This should have been a strong indication to both Lincecum and the Giants the former Cy Young should have become a full-time reliever to be a dominant force in the bullpen, to once again become a game-changer.  Instead, like what the Mets have been doing with Harvey of late, both sides agreed to have Lincecum continue on in the rotation.

The dip in velocity and effectiveness continued.  In the ensuing two seasons, Lincecum was 29-27 with a 4.46 ERA, 1.373 WHIP, and a 79 ERA+.  This was decidedly not the Lincecum who was both a vital part of the Giants rise to prominence and their first World Series title.

This was a different pitcher, one who no one really wanted.  After a disaster of a stint with the Angels in 2016, he didn’t pitch in the majors last year, and now finally, he has accepted his fate as a reliever.  He’s now sitting on the 60 day disabled list with blister issues hoping they’ll resolve themselves, and he will get another chance.

Right now, Harvey is in the spot Lincecum was in 2012.  He’s seen the dip in both velocity and results.  He’s not the same pitcher anymore.  For now, the Mets have decided he’s a reliever, which must be hard to accept for Harvey because he’s behind Vargas, the Mets version of Vogelsong.

Like Lincecum in 2012, Harvey is in a position where he needs to decide to put everything into a reliever.  Given the competitor he is, and with his ability to get into the mid 90s in Spring Training, it’s possible, Harvey is going to be a shut down reliever.

The question is what happens from there.  Does Harvey let his ego and heart stand in his way, and he keeps searching for that next starting pitching shot?  Or does he return to his place in baseball as a dominant pitcher, albeit one in the bullpen?

If Harvey opts the bullpen route, similar to what we once saw with injury prone pitchers with great stuff like John Smoltz, we may see Harvey become a great pitcher again.  Ultimately, we may see him have the career Tim Lineceum should have had if he was willing to accept the fact he was really a relief pitcher and no longer that ace atop the rotation.