The New York Mets completed a sweep of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night and extended their division lead to seven games. General manager Sandy Alderson also said on Wednesday that he's been talking with Matt Harvey's agent and doctor to arrive at a consensus for the right-hander's innings limit.
With the extra padding in the NL East, the Mets may not have to use Harvey as much as they previously expected, but Alderson said yesterday that there's a "tentative" plan to use him two more times during the regular season.
"I still expect to have conversations with Dr. Andrews and with Scott," Alderson told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. "Based on what we've talked about so far, he'd come back for that Yankees series and then maybe come back for the Nationals series at the end. But the doctor may decide that's not the best way to keep him ready [for the postseason]. So I don't want to be evasive.
"But everything is tentative right now. It's not tentative on the basis of, 'Jeez, he's only got X number of innings left.' It's tentative based on what's in his best interest with a view toward pitching in the playoffs, and what's in our best interest with a view toward actually getting to the playoffs as well."
Harvey will skip his next scheduled start and 25-year-old Logan Verrett will likely take his spot in the rotation.
New York has two upcoming series against the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, during which they probably won't need Harvey, but their final two tests will come against the Yankees (Sept. 18-20) and Nationals (Oct. 2-4). Depending on where the Mets stand at that point, they may need Harvey to make those starts to help further their push for the playoffs.
As for the postseason, Alderson believes Harvey will be available in some capacity, but the two sides have yet to arrive at a compromise because it's likely they'll have to see how the regular season goes first.
Harvey is 12-7 with a 2.88 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 164 strikeouts in 26 starts (171 2/3 innings) this season. His last two outings were among his worst this season, which is a bit of a cause for concern as he's on track to exceed his career-high 178 1/3 innings pitched set back in 2013 in his first season back from Tommy John surgery.
