Matt Harvey had his turn skipped in the starting rotation last week, but he'll return to action when the New York Mets host the New York Yankees this upcoming weekend. The team has an intriguing plan for the right-hander.
As the Mets prepare to face the best competition in the MLB once the postseason rolls around, they'll need Harvey to stay fresh and ready in the meantime. New York has a 9.5 game lead over the Washington Nationals in the NL East, so there's no urgency for Harvey to take the mound for full outings and further exceed his innings limit.
General manager Sandy Alderson said Harvey would "tentatively" make two more starts this season - one against the Yankees and another against the Nats (if needed) - but it seems as if the Mets think keeping him out of action for an extended period of time in between outings could hurt his performance heading into October.
As a result, Harvey will make a series of "short starts" or half-outings" and the Mets plan to use relievers Sean Gilmartin, Erik Goeddel and Tim Stauffer to pitch multiple innings in relief of the right-hander.
"We've got to get him on the mound a little more consistently," manager Terry Collins told Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com. "Every 12 days is not a good scenario."
"We've got to make sure this guy is ready to pitch if we get in the postseason. We have to have Matt Harvey ready to pitch," he added, via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. "He doesn't need to have 15 days off. We got to have him ready."
Harvey was outspoken earlier in the season about pitching on an extra day of rest when Collins employed a six-man rotation to take pressure off Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard as well. Those two starters already exceeded their career-high in innings pitched this season. Even though the move was to protect the team's young arms, Harvey was not a fan of the mandated extra day of rest.
"The motivation for using Harvey more frequently but for shorter durations is to keep him sharp for the postseason while keeping his innings count in check," Rubin added.
The 26-year-old has pitched 171 2/3 innings (26 starts) this season, which is 6 2/3 innings away from his career-high (178 1/3) set in 2013. However, this is Harvey's first season since undergoing Tommy John surgery and his doctors (as well as many others who have MLB pitchers as patients) are keen on innings limits to avoid overworking the surgically repaired elbow.
