For all that has gone wrong for Matt Harvey this year, at least he’s got this: His last official act of his 2016 season was the right call, opting for surgery next week to correct his Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which puts his focus squarely on a 2017 return. Maybe that’s when we’ll see the same guy who’s pitched so brilliantly at times instead of the stranger in a Met uniform who, we find out now, apparently was compromised by health this year.
There’s no need to subject himself — or the Mets — to the waiting and wondering of whether a nerve-blocking injection, another treatment option, would work and give him the chance to try to pitch again this year. That’s only a temporary solution, not a guarantee of a dramatic return for a pennant chase. Nor would it be a sure thing that he’d even be effective if he did climb a mound again this year. We are talking about a pitcher with a 4-10 record and a 4.86 ERA, after all.
Heck, the man who will perform the operation, vascular expert Dr. Robert Thompson, perhaps said it best when he told Harvey’s agent, “He’s not going to be ‘Matt Harvey’ with an entrapped nerve,” as Scott Boras relayed it to the Daily News Friday.
Besides, the Mets have enough other injury woes to fret over, considering that their two best players, Yoenis Cespedes and Noah Syndergaard, left Friday night’s game with ailments. Syndergaard has what he and the Mets called “arm fatigue,” which sounds troubling even if Syndergaard said he felt no pain or discomfort. He spiked the idea that it was related to the bone spur in his elbow, too. Pitching is such a fragile commodity, though, that it’s hard not to worry about him.
Cespedes has a strained right quad, which he’s hoping is only a four or five day problem. From what Terry Collins said, both men are unlikely to play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. That’s probably a good thing since it theoretically reduces the chances for more injuries. Hey, with the way things are around the Mets these days, you can’t be too careful.
For Harvey, though, it’s just about getting healthy. The surgery removes any idea of going for tough-guy bravado and trying to pitch. It’s all about 2017 for him now, the start of a huge two-year span in his career since he’s going to be a free agent after the 2018 season. And the Mets get a chance to evaluate whether they need to look for pitching help this year without hope clouding their judgment.
Boras says Harvey will need a six-month recuperation period after the operation, which means January would be when his recovery would be over. “We wanted to have this thing resolved and him throwing and ready for spring training,” Boras said.
The decision to have surgery at least gives Harvey some closure on his season, too. It’s been a wreck, from the blood clot in spring training to being booed off the mound by the fans who’ve adored him to all the mystifying poor outings. Even the tantalizing sharp outings he had were ultimately so much fool’s gold in a lost year.
Now, he at least can understand why. Harvey even tweeted that he was “relieved to have answers.” Harvey met with both Collins and GM Sandy Alderson Friday and Collins said he thought the pitcher was disappointed, but optimistic, too.
“I think it’s disappointing, but it’s certainly a relief to have an explanation for why Matt wasn’t himself,” added Boras. “Since spring training, Matt said he didn’t feel the same, mechanically. His release point, his arm slot, were not consistent. . . His sense of where his arm is in his delivery and his arm slot, he can’t get it to where it normally is.”
Had Harvey opted for the shot — it would’ve been Botox, by the way — that only would have masked the sensations he was feeling. It was more of a stopgap for someone hoping to finish a final week or so of a season, not someone looking to pitch for a few months and then, hopefully, the charged environment of October and postseason baseball. Trying to function without sensation might have put his shoulder and elbow at greater risk. Harvey’s been there before — he already lost a year of his career to Tommy John surgery.
As he goes forward, Harvey should take a hint from another pitcher with New York ties who recently had the same surgery, which removes a rib so the entrapped nerve has more freedom. Ex-Yankee Phil Hughes seems to have a good outlook on recovery from his own operation for TOS this week.
Friday, Hughes slyly tweeted to Harvey: “ribs are overrated.”
Maybe that gives Harvey a smile during a tough time. He should also take heart in knowing that he’s done the right thing as his job shifts from pitching to getting ready for next year.
In the context of this season, the Mets don’t have to worry about him anymore. They’ve got plenty of other injury troubles, though, and they’ll need their resolutions to be less dire.
![Josh Hart doesn’t want to make the assumption — but the trend proved true at least through the first two games of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, which means a similar trend could be true, too, in the second round against the Indiana Pacers. Jalen Brunson shot the ball poorly in four regular-season matchups against the 76ers. His slow shooting start in Games 1 and 2 — where he shot a combined 16-of-55 from the field — was not a surprise. Nor should it be a surprise if Brunson reduced the Indiana Pacer defense to ash […]](https://www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AP24033113916407.jpg?w=525 "Josh Hart doesn’t want to make the assumption — but the trend proved true at least through the first two games of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, which means a similar trend could be true, too, in the second round against the Indiana Pacers. Jalen Brunson shot the ball poorly in four regular-season matchups against the 76ers. His slow shooting start in Games 1 and 2 — where he shot a combined 16-of-55 from the field — was not a surprise. Nor should it be a surprise if Brunson reduced the Indiana Pacer defense to ash […]")
