Matt Harvey WILL Pitch in the 2015 Major League Baseball Playoffs, per Matt Harvey

Think hard: has an athlete’s image ever been damaged more severely, so swiftly, without involving an arrest or performance-enhancing drug suspension than Harvey’s over the weekend?

The Dark Knight in blue pinstripes. Already talk has begun about trading Harvey in the offseason, and the Mets, who lost two of three games to the lowly Miami Marlins this weekend, do not need any more distractions.

The hottest pitcher in baseball, Jake Arrieta has a few things in common with beleaguered Mets starter Matt Harvey. 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. While Harvey insists that he wants to keep pitching, he stopped short of committing to exceeding that 180 innings cap. I would not give that up for anything. Regardless of those numbers, I hope everyone knows: I have always wanted to play.

Harvey used the Player’s Tribune to make the announcement that he will indeed pitch for the Mets if the make it into the postseason this year.

Despite what Scott Boras says and despite what some doctors have allegedly told him, there is no scientific evidence that proves pitching a certain amount of innings leads to injury – whether it’s before or after Tommy John surgery. “It should be the doctor’s decision because it is about the well-being of the patient”, Boras said. Asked whether he would pitch if the team asked him to go above the 180-inning limit, Harvey only said he was focused on his start Tuesday night at Washington.

No more silly acts of bravado. That’s it. The Mets were doing this, skipping a start here and there, and using a six-man rotation.

Tough guy that we thought he was, Harvey doesn’t want the ball down the stretch and into October. Again: it’s his career, his investment, his body. Or was he just grandstanding, much like he did at the beginning of the season when the Cubs left another of his clients, Kris Bryant, off the opening day roster to slow down his eligibility for free agency? The Mets are in a tight division race, and if Harvey pitches only once more after Tuesday it could severely hurt their chances of reaching the postseason. But Harvey is letting down an entire Mets community in the process – a big, fat Take That to the folks who’ve practically worshipped him to this point. And as someone who couldn’t give less of a damn about his teammates or the fans.

New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey throws against the… When Harvey is a free agent?

“The Mets’ general manager received an email from Boras in late August detailing the stricter limit, and the two have fought ever since”, adds Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post. First, Harvey’s agent Scott Boras told CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman that the Mets needed to shut Harvey down after he hits 180 innings pitched due to medical reasons.

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