Oct. 4, 2015. The Washington Nationals have closed the gap on the New York Mets, creating a winner-take-all scenario in the NL East. Matt Harvey is scheduled to pitch, but enters the afternoon with a pitch count exceeding 180 innings.
Do you really think he's not taking the mound?
In that extremely hypothetical situation, Scott Boras does. Harvey's agent—citing the advice of Dr. James Andrews—said the Mets would be jeopardizing the right-hander's future by allowing him to pitch beyond 180 innings this season.
With his pitch count at 166 ⅓ innings, Harvey is understanding of Boras' stance.
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"I'm the type of person, I never want to put the ball down," Harvey said, per the New York Post. "I hired Scott, my agent, and went with Dr. Andrews as my surgeon because I trusted them to keep my career going and keep me healthy. As far as being out there, being with my teammates and playing, I'm never going to want to stop.
"As far as the surgeon and my agent having my back and kind of looking out for the best of my career, they are obviously speaking their mind about that."
Those comments come from a man unwilling to throw his agent under the bus, but perhaps more importantly, from a man unwilling to give up on the Mets' cause.
As I mentioned last night, #Mets person all but guaranteed to me Matt Harvey is pitching in postseason.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) September 6, 2015
A source close to Harvey later revealed there's no way the pitcher will authorize a shutdown, especially in the postseason.
"Trust me, he's pitching," the source said.
Seeing a lot of Mets fans on Twitter advocate trading Matt Harvey this offseason.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) September 5, 2015
For some, Harvey's decision to publicly side with his agent is enough to warrant a trade. After all, loyalty is trait all New Yorkers claim to posses.
At 26, he's a proven commodity that will demand fair value in the trade market. The Mets' ability to stockpile pitching—Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Jon Niese and Noah Syndergaard—alleviates any void created by his departure.
As tempting as it is on paper, this is still a 26-year-old with a 2.60 ERA in 25 starts. This is still a caliber player whose 1.01 WHIP is second only to deGrom in the starting rotation. This is still a pitcher whose 158 strikeouts are second only to, you guessed it, deGrom.
As tempting a situation it may be, there's still no justification for trading the second-best horse in your bullpen.
But then again, these are the Mets we're talking about.
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