As of September 7th, the New York Mets are in first place in the National League East with a 5.0 game lead over the Washington Nationals. The Mets are looking to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and have become the division favorite party due to a phenomenal young pitching staff. With Matt Harvey returning from Tommy John surgery this season, excitement surrounding the organization has been high.
Over this past weekend, Harvey’s agent, Scott Boras, said there was a 180-inning limit for Harvey this season to ease the load on his right elbow. This has lead to a dispute between Mets management and Harvey’s camp with Harvey upset that the Mets have backed out of an oral promise to abide by this limit. It was reported by Marc Edelman that Harvey’s anger is not directed to the right party, and he should really be upset with his agent, for not negotiating the innings limit directly into his standard player contract.
Boras says that the famous Dr. James Andrews (Harvey’s surgeon) and his team of doctors have determined this hard innings limit of 180, while Mets GM Sandy Alderson says that the limit is “soft” and is determined by many factors.
With the Mets so close to a playoff berth, this dilemma seems to be taking all the focus, instead of the huge series against the Nationals. To make matters worse, a back-page ad focusing on this disagreement has been circulating. The ad can be seen in a Tweet from Richard Deitsch here.
Harvey has pitched 166 1/3 innings this year to this point. His next start is scheduled for Tuesday 9/8, but could be pushed in attempts to make an appearance in the postseason.