Matt Harvey
After another tough start, Matt Harvey finds himself standing in Stephen Strasburg’s shoes, or cleats if you prefer. Scott Boras agreed as much in his interview with Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports saying, “We’re dealing with unknowns about why [Harvey] isn’t locating. All I can tell you is that with Tommy John guys there are times they don’t locate. Take a look at Strasburg last year.”
In 2014, Stephen Strasburg threw 200+ innings in the first time in his career and for the first time since his Tommy John surgery. When the 2015 season started, he struggled mightily.
In his first 13 starts, he was 5-5 with a 5.16 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Batters were hitting .289/.342/.439 against him. The Nationals pulled Strasburg from a July 3rd start after he threw 55 pitches over 3.2 innings. He was put on the DL due to discomfort in his side. It was his second DL trip in what was quickly becoming a lost year for the former number one overall pick and presumed Nationals ace.
Many questioned whether Strasburg could still fulfill his pre-Tommy John potential. His agent, Boras, put it best saying, “If I gave you those numbers, you would have to say the pitcher is in the dumps. His career path is altered. He’s changed. He’s someone who is in deep trouble and he’s not the same.” Boras then added this caveat, “The numbers I just gave you are of a pitcher who just signed a $175 million contract.” How did that happen?
It’s because after Strasburg’s stint on the DL, he came back a much different pitcher. He finished the year going 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. Batters were only hitting .179/.206/.306 against him. He’s come out this year and been the same dominating pitcher. So far, he’s 7-0 with a 2.80 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Batters are hitting .233/.278/.317 against him. He’s back in the discussion with Max Scherzer as the Nationals ace.
Keeping this in mind, it was fitting that Strasburg faced Harvey on Thursday. It shone a light on how a pitcher’s return from Tommy John is not linear.
Harvey had a good year last year going 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.019 WHIP. He had a memorable Game Five of the World Series where he seemingly re-established himself as not only the Mets ace, but also the best pitcher in the division. As Boras pointed out, “You go back a year and who’s who. I’m sitting on the phone (then) and no one is saying anything to me about Matt Harvey’s velocity and dominance. Now the roles are reversed, and the reality of it is there are unknowns in going through the Tommy John scenario.”
Like Strasburg in 2015, Harvey has faced a cold reality this year. Harvey has struggled mightily in 2016. He’s 3-6 with a 5.77 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. According to Brooks Baseball, he’s gone from throwing 96+ MPH last year to under 95 MPH this year. Boras, however, doesn’t believe Harvey’s velocity is an issue saying, “His velo is there. It is definitely there. When his velo is there, how is the league doing? The league is hitting .208 off him when he throws a 94-mphfastball and above.”
As for last night, Boras said, “Last night he was throwing 94. But the reality of it is when he mislocates . . . last night what did (Daniel) Murphy hit out of the ballpark? A curveball. He hung a curveball.”
The question the lingers is why is this happening. Boras, who represents both Harvey and Strasburg, doesn’t seem to know. He said, “This Tommy John carries with it unknowns.” He went on to elaborate, “Why are there unknowns? Because we had a pitcher go from zero to (216) innings after a 17-month rehab.”
If Harvey truly has his velocity, the question remains as to what the issue is with him. Everyone has a theory. One is Harvey’s conditioning or lack thereof. Boras didn’t lend any credence to that saying, “This guy was at our fitness institute for six weeks. And you know what? His lower half is one of the strongest in baseball of any pitcher. This is not conditioning, believe me.”
If it’s not conditioning, and it’s not velocity, then what is it? At this point, no one can honestly pinpoint the reason for Harvey’s struggles. Right now, the Mets don’t have any answers. While the Mets are still looking for answers, the Mets are going to send him back out there.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
After all the Mets fans hysteria after Matt Harvey struggled against the Nationals, it was easy to forget there was a game to be played tonight.
Like most of May, the Mets offense seemed to forget as well. For the first five innings, the Mets offense could only muster one run with three hits and a walk against Wily Peralta. This is the same Peralta who came into tonight’s game with a 2-4 record, 7.30 ERA, and a 1.992 WHIP. It didn’t matter as the Mets offense lately has been worse than Peralta . . . at least until the sixth inning.
Asdrubal Cabrera lead off the inning with a single, and he scored when Michael Conforto hit one into what used to be the Party City Deck.
Watch @mconforto8 crush his 7th home run of the season. #Mets #LGM https://t.co/HkyhuTNCjThttps://t.co/VX3VszasbF
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 21, 2016
Mets led 3-2.
There was a chance for more, but well, no one is quite sure what happened. Yoenis Cespedes singled, and he took off on a 3-2 pitch to Neil Walker. Walker took the pitch right down the middle for strike three, and Cespedes didn’t even bother sliding into second. Former Met Carlos Torres came on, and he got the Brewers out of the inning.
The three runs were enough for Steven Matz, who was terrific. He pitched seven innings allowing three hits, two earned, and no walks with eight strikeouts. He only made one mistake, which was hit for a two run homer in the first by Chris Carter, who is tied with Cespedes for the league lead in homers. Matz’s start was all the more incredible when you consider he had been shut down with elbow inflammation.
However, it looks like he’s back on track, and the Mets are back on track as well.
Game Notes: Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Torres got their NL Championship rings before the game. Eric Campbell started at third as David Wright had a scheduled day off. Rene Rivera had a nice game with an RBI ground out in the second, and he threw out another basestealer:
René Rivera is so good.
His CS% is 34.4% … 2nd-best among active catchers (250 games). Only Yadier Molina is better
— Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) May 21, 2016
After starting his career career going 0-22 with seven strikeouts against Matt Harvey, the last thing you’d expect is for Bryce Harper to feel sorry for his presumed arch nemesis. However, after getting booed off the mound after 2.2 excruciating innings, as Kevin Ducey of Sports Illustrated Tweeted, he does:
Not only did Harper see diminished velocity from Harvey, he also saw his first hit against him.
However, that’s not all he’s seen from Harvey. He’s seen Harvey at his best. He’s seen Harvey work hard in the offseason to return to form. He saw Harvey get booed by his hometown fans.
Like most, Harper has a theory on why Harvey is struggling. Like most, he attributes it to Harvey’s workload from last year.
Truth is no one really knows at this point. If there was a simple answer, the Mets and Harvey would’ve resolved the issue by now. Instead, everyone is back to the drawing board like they’ve been after all of Harvey’s starts. There are many unknowns as to what the issue could be.
However, as Harper said, we do know that Harvey’s “working his tail off.” That should give us all hope that Harvey will eventually figure it out.
Editor’s Note: this was first published on metsmerizedonline.com
The Nationals won a 9-1 laugher against the Mets. With that said, let’s do a Spaceballs review:
Matt Harvey only lasted 2.2 innings allowing eight hits, nine runs, six earned, and two walks with two strikeouts. He finally allowed Bryce Harper to get a hit off of him in 22 at bats. Just about everyone got a hit off of him including Daniel Murphy, who went 2-4 with a two runs, two RBI, a walk, and a homer. He’s just under .400. Overall, Murphy just rubbed it in this series:
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/status/733450660843134977/photo/1
Mets are still in third, but they are now 2.5 games back. The Mets face the Brewers tomorrow.
Throughout this season, Matt Harvey has struggled. His velocity is down. He’s having trouble with his mechanics. He’s bad in the fifth inning. He’s horrendous in the sixth inning. He’s yet to pitch into the seventh inning. The Mets now send him out for the rubber game tonight against the Nationals.
This could be the best thing that has happened to Harvey.
In his career, Harvey has upped his game when he has faced the Nationals. It’s a good thing too not only because they’re the Mets main obstacle to repeating in the NL East, but also because he’s faced them more than any other team. In his 10 starts against them, he has a 1.77 ERA, a 0.937 WHIP, a 9.6 K/9, and a 7.03 K/BB ratio. The Nationals only hit .197/.249/.259 against him.
Even better, Harvey is facing off against Stephen Strasburg. The first time that happened was April 19, 2013. In that game, Harvey pitched seven innings allowing four hits, one earned, and three walks while striking out seven. Harvey recorded the win as the Citi Field faithful serenaded Strasburg with “HARVEY’S BETTER!” chants. Last year in Harvey’s first start back from Tommy John, he again bested Strasburg going six innings allowing four hits, no earned, one walk, and nine strikeouts.
Strasburg has yet to get the better of Harvey. He’s still done better against Harvey than Bryce Harper has. Harper is 0-20 against Harvey with seven strikeouts.
Harvey has pitched extremely well against the Nationals in his career. Maybe, just maybe, going up against the Nationals is exactly what Harvey needs to figure it all out. If he can do that, he just might have the terrific 2016 most assumed he would.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Matt Harvey because he gave us all hope in 2013. Each and every time he took the mound, you didn’t know what was going to happen. It could be a no-hitter. Better yet, it could be a perfect game. He may strike out over 20 batters. You didn’t know. In 2013, anything was possible.
He had to have Tommy John surgery meaning nothing was possible in 2014.
Once Harvey returned in 2015, anything was possible again. We saw that as the Mets won the pennant. Harvey was through the thick of it all. He pitched more innings than anyone has post-Tommy John. He came so close to sending the World Series back to Kansas City.
In my household, there was only one man who pitched for the Mets:
Now, Harvey is struggling. Yes, anything is still possible. However, with Harvey’s struggles this year some of the magic is gone. Unfortunately, he’s been replaced by another Harvey:
With Harvey’s struggles, this is who my son thinks of when I ask him who Harvey is. This Harvey is not just a crane. He’s an engine too.
I wonder if he could pitch into the seventh inning.
Albert Eistein once said, “the definition of insanity is seeing 2016 Matt Harvey pitch over and over again and expect to see him pitch well into the fifth inning.” Well, it was something like that.
Coming into tonight’s start Harvey had a 1.93 ERA in the first four innings. In the fifth, he had a 7.71 ERA. In the sixth, he had a 16.20 ERA. Each and every game, Mets fans think from innings 1-4 that Harvey’s back. Each and every game, Mets fans are trying to figure out what’s gone wrong again in the fifth and sixth innings. Tonight was more of the same.
Harvey pitched 5.2 innings allowing 11 hits, five earned, no walks, and six strikeouts. Three of the earned runs were scored between the fifth and sixth innings. The other two were scored in the fourth with a little help from a Michael Conforto misplay in left. Somehow his allowing a single to drop in front of him and roll past him was scored s triple.
Harvey’s undoing was the sixth . . . again. Harvey had stifled a rally the fifth only allowing a run. He allowed a one out double to D.J. LeMahieu. LeMahieu scored on a Tony Wolters single. Harvey had previously dominated Wolters. He struck him out twice. However, it’s hard to dominate someone when your fastball drops from the 95+ MPH range to the 90 MPH range. It also doesn’t help when the pitches are over the middle of the plate. By the way Harvey allowed these many hits and saw this much of a velocity drop?
That 13-hit performance by the Tigers in 2013 was Harvey's last start before the Tommy John surgery.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) May 14, 2016
Jerry Blevins relieved Harvey with two outs in the sixth, and he allowed an RBI double to Charlie Blackmon. It closed out the final line for Harvey. Again, Mets fans are just left with questions as to what is happening with Harvey.
Rockies starter Jon Gray dominated the Mets over seven innings to earn his first career win in his 14th career start. Kevin Plawecki was the only one really able to touch him up when he hit a two RBI double in the second. Those would be the only runs the Mets would score in Coors Field tonight. The Mets lost 5-2 in Coors Field.
Where has the Mets offense gone? The Mets offense was once again stymied. Put it this way, Plawecki’s two RBIs were the first from a Mets position player in 26 innings. It’s been 33 innings since a position player other than Plawecki has had an RBI.
Mets offense has disappeared. Hopefully, they’ll find it tomorrow. They are playing in Coors Field.
Game Notes: Once again David Wright struggled in the first game after a flight. He was 0-4 with three strikeouts.
As reported in several media outlets yesterday, Stephen Strasburg received a seven year $175 million contract extension. The deal has an average annual value of $25 million. The contract features rolling opt out clauses after the third or fourth year. Additionally, Strasburg will receive a million dollar bonus each year he pitches over 180 innings.
Strasburg is a former number one overall pick. He’s 27 years old. He has had Tommy John surgery. He is in his fifth full big league season. He throws hard with a 96 MPH fastball, 89 MPH change and slider, and an 81 MPH curve. In his career, he is 59-37 with a 3.07 ERA, 127 ERA+, 2.80 FIP, 1.089 WHIP, and a 10.5 K/9. He’s struck out 200 batters in a season once, made one All Star team, and finished in the Top 10 in Cy Young voting once.
Before the contact extension, he was slated to be the top free agent on the market. Also, his agent is Scott Boras.
This contract confirms what all Mets fans know. Keeping the current starting staff together when they start becoming free agents is next to impossible. Not even the late George Steinbrenner would be willing to spend the money necessary to keep this staff together.
Back in 2013 when Matt Harvey was becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball, Mets fans would cheer “Harvey’s Better!” when Harvey faced Strasburg. They were right, and despite Harvey’s early season struggles, they are still right. Harvey has a better career ERA+ and FIP than Strasburg. Accordingly, when’s he’s approaching free agency in 2019, wouldn’t he be worth more money than Strasburg? Boras, who is also Harvey’s agent, will certainly make that case.
If Harvey gets that money, what does that mean for the other Mets starters? Right now, Noah Syndergaard is amongst the best pitchers in baseball at 23 years of age, and he’s only getting better. Steven Matz is a 24 year old lefty, who is 9-1 with a 2.56 ERA in his career. Also, don’t forget Jacob deGrom, who many consider to be the staff’s ace.
If all four of these players get a Strasburg deal, that’s $100 million just to the starting pitching. Keep in mind that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that each one of these pitchers could reasonably seek more when they come up to free agency.
As per Spotrac, the Mets payroll is at $131 million. That would mean the Mets would have $31 million to spend on the other 21 players. With that $31 million, the Mets will also have to find money to sign Jeurys Familia and Michael Conforto to their own lucrative contract extensions. By the way, Conforto is also represented by Boras.
Unfortunately, re-signing all of these players simply isn’t feasible. Deep down, we all knew it. The Stephen Strasburg signing only confirmed it.
Yesterday, the bases were loaded with one out in the third inning. We then saw Yoenis Cespedes do something incredible. He got doubled off second base.
Juan Lagares had hit a flyball to left center. It wasn’t terribly deep, but it was certainly deep enough to score David Wright from third. Wright never scored because Cespedes drifted a little too far off of second, and he went back into the base standing. Wright’s run wouldn’t count, and it was all because Cespedes made an inexplicable bone headed play. It wasn’t the first time.
Last year, we saw him allow not one:
but two:
Little League homeruns.
It’s as bizarre. It’s inexplicable.
That’s the problem with him. For as great and as talented as he is, he makes some bone-headed plays. He can look lazy out there at times. Cespedes gets away with it due to his immense talent. The quintessential Cespedes play is the time he threw Sean Rodriguez out at third:
He took a bad angle to the ball. He never reached full speed in pursuing the ball in the air or on the ground. But that arm! His arm was incredible, and it bailed him and the Mets out. It was his arm that got me excited in Game One of the NLCS.
The Cubs were finally making contact against Matt Harvey. They had tied the score at 1-1, and they were still rallying when Javier Baez singled to left. Sitting in the left field Promenade, I was excited because I knew Cespedes was going to do this:
Cespedes is a uniquely talented player. He’s got great speed. He has a great arm. At the plate, he hits for power. There’s a reason why his nickname is La Potencia.
But still, at the plate he can drive you crazy. He swings at balls out of the zone. He especially likes them low and outside. Furthermore, he likes them high. To a certain extent, he lacks plate discipline as is evident from his career .321 OBP or the fact that he has struck out over 100 times each year he has been in the majors. When he does strike out, I’ve yet to see him run to first on a pitch in the dirt. It’s enough to drive you crazy. But then, in typical Cespedes fashion, he does this:
He has the ability to change the entire course of the game with just one swing. We saw it after the trade deadline, and we saw it again this year:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cWsfXqxPNao
That’s what is frustrating with Cespedes. He is extremely talented. Perhaps, he is singularly most talented player in the game right now. If he’s not, he’s certainly up there. It’s why I love watching him play. You never know what amazing thing he’s going to do next.
You also don’t know what bone-headed thing he’s going to do next. I hate it when he makes inexplicably bad plays like that. Through it all, I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with this remarkably talented and mistake prone player.
The funny thing is, right now, I wouldn’t change a thing.
Terry Collins must be relieved that for the second straight day, a Braves pitcher got the better of a Mets starter. Last night, it was Matt Wisler only allowing one hit in eight innings against a struggling Matt Harvey. Today, it was Jhoulys Chacin getting the better of Steven Matz.
With two outs in the third, Chacin singled off of Matz. It would put the game in a completely different perspective.
Instead of Collins agonizing again whether or not to leave Matz in during a no-hitter, he could manage it like any other game. Strange enough, Collins said before the game if he was presented with another Johan Santana situation, especially with a young pitcher, he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him. Collins did pull Matz after he threw his 106th pitch. At that point, Matz had thrown 7.2 innings, and he just allowed his second hit. Matz was just terrific. In addition to the two hits, he allowed no runs, no walks, and he struck out eight.
Matz has completely recovered from his awful first start. Matz is now 4-1. He’s lowered his ERA from 37.80 to 2.89. Matz is showing why many had him as an early favorite for the Rookie of the Year Award.
While Matz dominated the Braves from the mound, the Mets batters dominated at the plate:
.@Mets mash. https://t.co/9gTjUFgsgY pic.twitter.com/EBW2FcabrO
— MLB (@MLB) May 4, 2016
By the way, who had Rene Rivera as the first Mets catcher to homer this year in their office pool?
The other homers came from Asdrubal Cabrera and Lucas Duda, who hit two. Overall, the Mets completely dominated the Braves like we should all reasonably expect. The final score of 8-0 was deceptive. It made the game appear closer than it was.
Game Notes: This was the Mets third shut out of the year. The Mets have now won six consecutive series. This is the first time they’ve done that since 2006.