New York Mets starter Matt Harvey will take the ball in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs tonight, further putting the whole innings limit debate in the rearview. But was it really as big of a deal as it was made out to be?
Rumors earlier in the season suggested the Mets and Harvey's agent, Scott Boras, were at odds between the right-hander's innings limit for the 2015 MLB season. Harvey underwent Tommy John surgery the year before and this was his first season back on the mound.
Mets' general manager Sandy Alderson said before the season that Harvey could pitch up to 200 innings including the playoffs, but then Boras countered that (conveniently months later) in early September and said Harvey had a "hard cap" of 180 innings. Harvey, 26, has thrown 194 1/3 innings this year after telling the team he wanted to keep pitching beyond the alleged limit that the two sides disagreed upon.
While many surgeons and team doctors stress innings limits for younger pitchers and those coming off certain surgeries (most notably Tommy John), is there really a formula to determine how much one can throw before jeopardizing one's health?
There has been much debate over this ever since the Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg in 2012. Harvey won't allow anybody to shut him down despite the enormous debacle that cast a dark cloud over the Mets a month and a half ago, but should there have been any discussion about it at all?
"Noted surgeon Neal ElAttrache, who isn't Matt Harvey's doctor but consulted with Harvey's surgeon James Andrews at various steps along the process, mentioned Harvey's in a better position because of the long time between surgery and first pitch back (17 months) and also agreed 'we don't have any science behind it,'" writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. "ElAttrache said he hesitated to weigh in on 'someone else's player,' but still said the general guideline is to hold pitchers to previous personal innings marks. 'If it was twelve months I'd be a little worried at this point,' ElAttrache told CBSSports.com. 'I think we could make a case either way.' ElAttrache, one of the two foremost Tommy John surgeons along with Andrews (he does 70-80 a year), also noted that Harvey feels good, and his condition appears to be very good, as well."
ElAttrache takes the middle ground here, but him acknowledging there's no "science behind it" just makes the whole previous incident sound like hogwash, especially with how Boras blew it out of proportion. On the other hand, Harvey's career-high innings in a season was 178 1/3 back in 2013, so that "personal mark" would support Boras' stance, but even then he should have spoken up much earlier rather than create unnecessary controversy for a playoff bound club.
"As for why he didn't say something sooner, Boras said doctors don't like to set innings limits early because they want to see how the pitcher is doing and for fear of setting up false expectations," Heyman added back in September. "But the agent contends that it shouldn't go beyond the number of innings thrown the full year before injury."
Yeah, the agent contended that, not the doctor. ElAttrache is a famed surgeon who conducts these procedures in his sleep and he even said a case could be made either way. The bottom line is that Harvey is feeling good and the Mets had never planned to overuse him or put his health in danger. It's pretty ridiculous that it took this long for one of the well known doctors to speak out on the subject, especially since it was reported in late September that Harvey's inning limit "never existed."
Whatever the case, the issue is now in the past. There are two things we know: Matt Harvey will pitch for the rest of the postseason, and Scott Boras is an enormous distraction to the MLB.