I think it’s safe to say the New York Mets are this year’s most surprising team. Houston’s success is awesome for baseball, but it didn’t come out of nowhere. That train has been building up steam since it drafted Carlos Correa a few years back.
This Mets team is something else entirely.
We all knew it had fantastic pitching, but I don’t think anyone expected this staff to perform like this, even as they operated without Matt Harvey for a good chunk of the season. If the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta and the Dodgers’ Zach Grienke weren’t pitching like it’s 1968 this season, then I’d vote Jacob DeGrom for the Cy Young.
With the addition of Yoenis Cespedes (which, in hindsight, is turning out better than the Carlos Gomez deal), the Mets are serious contenders for a World Series push.
The Mets’ biggest issue isn’t necessarily with performance right now. It’s how the team plans to use it’s golden boy, the aforementioned Matt Harvey.
Harvey, also known as “the Dark Knight,” plans to pitch the rest of the season and into the postseason despite being told by doctors to shut it down the rest of the year to protect his expensive arm.
Harvey is clearly conflicted, and his struggle with this decision has been well-documented. Does he pitch the rest of the season, risking the chance of destroying his career and millions of dollars to fight for a World Series? Or does he shut it down, protecting his arm and money while at the same time alienating his fan base and ruining his reputation?
It’s a tough call, and Harvey has chosen the former. I agree that he should be pitching in the postseason, but I have a different spin: Put him in the bullpen.
It’s the perfect scenario.
Harvey can work three to four innings out of the bullpen in a game, or two per series and shut down opposing hitters when the Mets need it most. He wouldn’t put more stress and innings on his arm than he would if he were starting three games a series, and he’d still be contributing.
Transitioning to a relief role isn’t difficult, either. Madison Bumgarner made a seamless transition during last year’s World Series. Randy Johnson did it during the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win. Great pitchers can pitch in any situation, period.
The competitor in Harvey might not like the diminished role, but at least he’d be making a difference. By making the shift for this postseason, he’d be saving his future and ensuring many more chances of pitching in October.
