ANOTHER BAD KNIGHT
Time to consider bumping Harvey from rotation
Mickey Callaway was applauded for taking the merit route when initially selecting Seth Lugo for the final rotation spot out of spring training and sending Zack Wheeler to the minor leagues to open the 2018 season. Is the time coming for him to consider doing the same with Matt Harvey?
Wheeler returned to the Mets earlier this week and became their only starter so far this season to complete seven innings in one outing, but Harvey offered up his second straight mediocre start as the team’s nine-game winning streak came to a close with a 5-1 loss to the Brewers on Saturday night at Citi Field.
Even with Lugo and Robert Gsellman since transitioning from starting roles to bolster and deepen what has been a lights-out bullpen effort, someone will have to come out of the rotation once veteran lefty signing Jason Vargas returns from the disabled list in the coming weeks.
“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Callaway said after the Mets fell to 11-2.
The Mets obviously still have time to make that call, and more information will become available for process from all concerned.
But Harvey now has recorded exactly 15 outs in each of his first three appearances of 2018, and he’s gone 12 straight starts since May 28 of last year without pitching any deeper into a game. Since posting five zeroes in his season debut on April 2 against Philly, the former All-Star has been tagged for four runs in each of the next two to zoom his ERA to 5.14.
That’s still better than the abominable 6.70 figure Harvey had registered last season in his first year back from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery, but it’s not much better.
“He’s got good stuff. The strikeouts are there,” Callaway said. “Tonight, I didn’t see him attack as well as I’ve seen him throughout spring training…I didn’t see that conviction that we’re always talking about.”
While his four-seamer mostly sat at 93-95 mph on Saturday night, the free-agent-to-be coughed up a three-run homer to the opposite field by Jonathan Villar during a 30-pitch second inning and a solo shot by Jett Bandy (a fun name to say) two frames later.
“Not very good. I just have to be better than that,” Harvey said. “Obviously, we had a good streak going and tonight I needed to go out and be better. That loss is on me, completely, I think.”
Thus, it’s fully fair to wonder whether Harvey or Steven Matz (5.1 so-so innings one night earlier) – and not Wheeler, who tossed seven innings of one-run ball Wednesday against the gutted Marlins – could be in jeopardy of losing his rotation spot once Vargas is ready. Harvey and Matz each have a minorleague option remaining, although the former has the right to refuse such an assignment.
It’s also fair to wonder whether what has been an eye-popping bullpen collective eventually will show signs of overwork and fatigue if those arms are needed to continually record so many high-leverage outs on a daily basis without at least some reprieve from the starting staff.
“There has not been a price yet because we’ve had a lot of off days,” Callaway said. “We would have had to go a little bit different route than we had. We’ve played close games, too…and everybody is pitching in big situations. If we hadn’t had the off days, it’d be tough so far.”
Callaway experienced the Indians’ 22game winning streak last season firsthand, and while the Mets didn’t even get halfway there before suffering their first loss since April 1, the former Cleveland pitching coach believed there were “a lot of similarities, for sure.”
One early comparison between the Tribe of recent vintage and the Mets’ quick start has been Callaway’s deployment of and reliance on the team’s relievers, with the bullpen posting a collective 1.62 ERA over 50 innings of work, the best mark in baseball.
The flipside to that, of course, is that Callaway’s starting rotation still mostly has not worked deep enough into games, with only Wheeler completing seven innings in any of the Mets’ first 13 contests. With 149 remaining and more than five months still to survive, that is an awfully difficult recipe to maintain with success over the long haul.
The depth and versatility Lugo and Gsellman have been able to provide, however, also “allows you to do some unconventional things,” according to Callaway. He should know after teaming with Cleveland manager Terry Francona in deploying a loaded pen fronted by closer Cody Allen and ex-Yanks lefty Andrew Miller.
The Indians, remember, also squeezed more than 200 innings apiece one year ago out of AL Cy Young winner Corey Kluber and 18-game winner Carlos Carrasco, plus another 176 from righty Trevor Bauer.
Callaway’s mighty pen could use a similar lift, and soon, from the Mets’ starting staff. He will have to decide shortly whether Harvey or someone else merits a demotion once Vargas is ready.