As seen on Mets Amazin Clubhouse.
Matt Harvey's career with the Mets is likely over.
The Mets designated Harvey for assignment after he refused to accept a demotion to the minor leagues to work on his mechanical issues. General Manager Sandy Alderson made the announcement on Friday as the Mets prepare to face the Colorado Rockies tonight at Citi Field for the first of a three-game series.
The Mets will now have 10 days to place Harvey on waivers and trade him, or outright release him from his contract, making him a free agent.
According to the rules of a designation for assignment, the parent club (in this case the Mets) could return Harvey to the 40-man roster within 10 days, but, at this point that seems highly unlikely.
A divorce between the Mets and Harvey was coming, it was only a question of when.
The last straw for the Mets can Thursday when Harvey came in relief of starting pitcher Jason Vargas, and was lit up by the Atlanta Braves. In two innings, Harvey surrendered five earned runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out only one. His ERA which stood at 5.76 coming into the effort, ballooned to 7.00.
Overall, Harvey has given up 21 runs in 27 innings of work, including allowing six homers. His stuff is not good at all. His fastball has no bit and forget about his off-speed stuff because there is nothing there to fool hitters. At this point Harvey is a complete shell of his former self.
Off the field issues have not helped his case. Harvey and the Mets have butted heads for years. Their disdain for one another goes all the way back to 2014 when Harvey wanted to comeback sooner from Tommy John Surgery, a request that Alderson and the Mets rightfully declined.
One year later, Harvey became the face of the Mets implosion in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series against Kansas City. The Mets held a narrow 2-0 lead, with Harvey rolling through the Royals lineup. He pushed then-manager Terry Collins to leave him in to pitch the eighth inning, a decision Collins and soon regretted. The Royals tied the game, forced extras, and later celebrated a World Series title at the Mets expense.
Earlier that same postseason, Harvey was a no-show to a workout before a playoff game against the LA Dodgers. Harvey claimed he was stuck in traffic. End of story.
Last season, Harvey was suspended three-game for failing to show up to the ballpark. It later came out that Harvey was partying the night before and golfed the next morning, hence the reason for being a no-show, a clear break of team rules. When he did pitch, Harvey was bad. When he wasn't pitching, he was on the disabled list.
This season, Manager Mickey Callaway and Dave Eland tried to get Harvey back on track, but they couldn't do it. Harvey was 0-2 with an ERA over five as a starting pitcher, forcing the Mets to demote him to the bullpen. Callaway hoped that the demotion would give Harvey time to work out his mechanics, but the former ace's own hubris prevented him from accepting the assignment gracefully.
The chickens really came to roost when Page Six reported Harvey left the team to live things up in LA at a nightclub just hours before the team was to open a series in San Diego. Sandy Alderson said he was not surprised by the story, but wouldn't elaborate further. Now we know for sure that the Mets had just about enough of Matt Harvey and his shenanigans.
It's a sad tale, one that opened with so much promise for a guy once known as the "Dark Knight." He was going to be the next Tom Seaver or Jerry Koosman; the frontman of the Mets vaunted rotation with Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. Instead, Harvey let the glitz and glamour of New York get to his head, and now its all over. Matt Harvey is just another guy who couldn't make it in the Big City.
After losing 11 of their last 17 games, the Mets needed to shake up the clubhouse. This may be the first of many moves to get the Amazin's back on track in 2018.
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