Mets have no plans to shut pitcher Matt Harvey down

This is all incredibly vague, but it sounds like Harvey, his team, and the Mets are working on an innings limit that may or may not exceed the original 180 and that this innings limit will not apply to the postseason.

Boras said the doctors who performed Harvey’s Tommy John surgery have said he should not throw more than 180 innings this season, his first after the procedure. Harvey said there is a difference of opinion between the Mets and his team of agent Scott Boras and Andrews.

Harvey’s agent Scott Boras has been at odds with the Mets over the pitcher’s usage, with the 180-inning limit being something the Mets consider “soft”. Harvey refused to answer questions about his availability in the playoffs while speaking with reporters on Saturday, saying he was merely focused on his next start against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. It’s a huge 180 for Harvey after the right-hander convinced the Mets not to go to a six-man rotation earlier this year. “I’m not sure what is going to happen”.

“I think it’s a challenge for him”, Collins said. He could’ve been elevated to a latter-day Willis Reed, brandishing a can-do ethos that (we thought) was part of the Dark Knight’s genetic coding all along. Harvey is not about finishing off this mini-miracle season in Flushing, but about his next stop, his next contract and perhaps his next team. “From my experience with Matt and what I know of him, I don’t think he has it in him to be able to sit back and watch his teammates compete in the playoffs while he’s on the sidelines”.

The Mets have a luxury in a deep rotation rich with young talent, but presumably they’d like to be careful with rookie Noah Syndergaard as well. I guess we’ll truly find out when the postseason is upon us and the lights get brighter.

The article entitled, “I Will Pitch in the Playoffs” was posted under the name Matt Harvey, New York City Bureau Chief. While medical research is still sketchy when it comes to proclaiming a strict innings limit, there is plenty of past history showing it is probably not a good idea to set a new career-high for innings pitched the first season back after Tommy John.

Though the SNY analyst said Harvey hasn’t handled it well, he says he shouldn’t have been put in the position. With the Mets at the top of the division, the club obviously wants Harvey to be available for a possible playoff series. He still is on schedule to start Tuesday against the Nationals. If the strong-willed ace forces the Mets to shut him down, he will make one more start after that.

At the very least, the Mets have three starting pitchers they can feel very confident in headed into the postseason, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom. He also declined to say who makes the final call between the organization, Boras and Dr. James Andrews about what is a reasonable innings count for Harvey this season. But since that’s no easy trick to pull, the Mets’ best choice for now seems to be limiting Harvey as best as they can during the regular season in a way that allows him to be both rested and on his rhythm for October.