The New York Mets are dealing with a potential crisis due to Matt Harvey's innings limit debacle and now the team may have to look elsewhere for reliability on the mound once the postseason hits. Is Steven Matz the guy that will give the Mets the quality starts they need?
Matz made his first start over the weekend after being activated from the disabled list following a two-month absence due to a torn lat muscle. He surrendered two earned runs on four hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings against the Miami Marlins in a no-decision.
The latest rumors find Harvey will be severely limited for the rest of the regular seasons (likely two starts) and if the team makes the postseason he will be starting only one game per playoff series and be on a 60 pitch restriction - if he participates in the postseason at all.
Does this open up the door for Matz, who has thrown just 120 2/3 innings this season between the minor leagues and the MLB?
"If the innings limits are real and Harvey simply won't be in position to help much, there's no sense in worrying about him," ESPN Insider Buster Olney writes. "Trying to find him starts of three or four innings in October might not be worth the trouble.
"It might be better for the Mets to go with what would be a solid rotation without him: Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz."
Matz's activation from the disabled list was supposed to provide flexibility in the starting rotation and help manager Terry Collins rest Harvey and fellow rookie Noah Syndergaard, but the plans have changed.
"Twenty-four hours ago, Matz was returning as a luxury," Anthony Rieber of Newsday wrote over the weekend. "Now his start takes on even more importance. If Harvey shuts himself down, Matz might become a necessity as the Mets try to hold off the Nationals in the NL East."
Harvey will pitch at least two more times in the regular season and it remains to be seen how he'll be handled in the playoffs. If he's limited to 60 pitches per start, using him might not even be worth it because the whole concept of the postseason is to utilize your starters that will be most effective and pitch deep into games. Going into the bullpen after the fourth or fifth inning is not what the Mets are trying to do, considering their greatest strength is their rotation.
Matz suffered a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand over the weekend, but told Mike Puma of the New York Post that he "caught it before it got too bad" and he "should be good to go."
That news is reassuring, because the Mets are going to need every good inning they can get out of Matz until the season ends.
