Matt Harvey is fighting for his spot in the Mets’ rotation after three straight lackluster starts, as Jason Vargas nears a potential return from the disabled list.
The former Mets ace was roughed up for six runs in the first three innings against the Braves on Thursday before pitching three scoreless frames. Even so, Harvey sits with a 6.00 ERA as team brass evaluates various possibilities.
A look at the issues:
Q: What are the options for Harvey and the Mets?
A: At this point the Mets can move Harvey to the bullpen, find an injury and place him on the 10-day disabled list, demote the pitcher to Triple-A Las Vegas or look to trade or release him. The last option is to maintain the status quo and keep Harvey in the rotation.
Q: Do the Mets have final say on sending Harvey to the minors?
A: No. As a player with five years in the major leagues, Harvey must give his approval for a minor-league assignment.
Q: Would Harvey accept a minor-league assignment?
A: He has provided no indication that he would, but maybe if an agreement were reached — say Harvey is told he would make two starts in the minors and then return — the pitcher would at least consider the idea.
Q: Would Harvey embrace a bullpen role?
A: Based on his comments Thursday night, Harvey wants no part of the bullpen. He’s been a starting pitcher for his entire career and with free agency impending after the season likely doesn’t want to start dabbling in a new job description.
Q: Will the Mets just release Harvey?
A: The Mets tendered Harvey a contract last offseason with the idea he was a risk worth taking, with a potentially high ceiling. To release him in April, when he’s hitting 95 mph on the radar gun, would be a knee-jerk reaction.
Q: Could the Mets shift to a six-man rotation?
A: That’s always a possibility, but probably on a limited basis, correlating to the number of days off the Mets have in a given period of time. Team brass does not want to have Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom potentially waiting six days between starts.
Q: Does Harvey have trade value?
A: The Mets would be selling low, and at this point would likely just be taking on somebody’s bad contract in return. And if Harvey rebounded with another team, the Mets wouldn’t look good.
Q: What is Harvey’s biggest problem?
A: The Mets largely are pleased with his stuff, but command is another story altogether. This is consistent with pitchers returning from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.
