While the Mets continue to spin their tires, what is the problem with taking a highly motivated Matt Harvey on a flyer to rejoin the team…
The Mets, unless a miracle happens and Brodie Van Wagenen awakes from his slumber, will be heading home empty-handed from the Winter Meetings in San Diego.
Moreover, Van Wagenen will continue with the cover-up as best he can, even though he is truly at a loss for words.
The story behind that inactivity is a matter for the press to stalk Van Wagenen seeking answers. But even with the jump the Phillies and Braves have, the offseason is not over, and there is still time to make a few moves centered on improving the Mets for 2020.
It’s not so much that the Mets lost out on Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg. Or for that matter, even a Will Smith, a top reliever who went to the Braves before the Mets settled on Brad Brach.
The Mets have no energy – no imagination
Instead, it’s the seeming lack of energy and thinking outside the box on the part of Van Wagenen that is most troubling.
Rick Porcello is the best answer he can come up with to replace Zack Wheeler, even though there is a myriad of reasons he shouldn’t pull the trigger on that one. Jake Marisnick becomes his best answer in centerfield, and we’re supposed to accept it.
Why, just as a, for instance, are the Mets not in talks with Matt Harvey? Just talks, that’s all. Here’s a broken-down pitcher who, at the age of only 30, sees his career falling apart and on the outside looking in.
No one knows at this point if Harvey has it within himself to dig deep to do what is necessary to make a comeback.
Admittedly, the Mets don’t know. How could they? Matt Harvey is not even on their radar. They’re still trying to unload Jed Lowrie‘s salary, and if anyone wants to take a stab at Jeurys Familia or Robinson Cano, they will do that in a heartbeat as well.
We’re talking about a player who is motivated to not only recall but to earn back those nights when he was the Toast of the Town in New York City. The Matt Harvey I used to call “Matt The Brat” in my writings.
He’s the same Matt Harvey who came within centimeters of having his Curt Schilling “bloodied sock” moment when he went out to pitch that fateful ninth inning in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series.
No assurances, but no ceiling either
There’s a lot of history there, some good and some bad – very bad. Such as when Harvey thought it was “refreshing” to have a photo taken from his hospital bed giving “the finger” to all who cared to notice.
For the Mets, how are they to know what, if anything, Matt Harvey has left in that right arm?
For that matter, how is Harvey to tell if not given a chance to find out?
By all practical standards, Matt Harvey should be a rich man, having earned nearly $28 million over his career in the major leagues.
And therefore, it shouldn’t be a matter of money for Harvey, and he’ll take what he can get for a chance to revive his career.
And what’s to say the Mets – again if they were thinking outside the box – can’t visualize the possibility of Matt Harvey contributing to the team as a reliever – and possibly even as a closer?
They’re the Mets – what do you expect?
We don’t know – do we? And neither do the Mets because they’re not asking these questions.
You can easily reach the point with the Mets where you have nothing left to do but blindly “believing” in the team. They’re the Mets, after all – what do you expect?
Somewhere along the line, that has to end. And I don’t believe Brodie Van Wagenen, based on his actions – or inactions – in San Diego is the man to do it.
Matt Harvey may or may not be an answer to strengthening the Mets team in 2020. But what would it hurt to at least try…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
