Mets’ mess deepens
Matt Harvey’s suspension is latest setback in chaotic season, but talented team could still contend,
The New York Mets are no longer a baseball team, they’re a soap opera.
There’s not a reality-TV show on any cable outlet in the land that can touch this stuff.
When the Mets are not mishandling injuries, they’re taking goofy pictures with sex toys in the background. When they’re not desperately looking for healthy pitchers, they’re suspending them.
Matt Harvey, who once represented the bright future of the franchise, provided the latest drama. He was ordered by the Mets front office to go home, suspended for three days without pay for violating team rules.
General manager Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins declined to publicly divulge the details that led to the suspension, though Fox Sports reported that Harvey had a migraine Saturday and did not report for Mets clubhouse work, citing a miscommunication.
“We’ll keep it in-house, the way it’s supposed to be,” Collins told reporters at Citi Field. “In order to be able to control things, you’ve got to sometimes make tough decisions, and this is one of them.
“There were rules here that weren’t adhered to, and we took a stance. I think they’re all behind the decision.”
If anyone sided with Harvey, they certainly were keeping those thoughts to themselves, with several players saying they understood the suspension.
“We have to understand we’re employees,” veteran infielder Jose Reyes told report- ers. “We have to come do the job every day. … Everybody in here knows what the rules are.”
It’s unknown whether Harvey will file a grievance over the suspension, but, no matter, it’s just the latest subplot to the team’s season-long story line:
The Mets are a mess — and getting messier by the day. Even when they win, they lose. They finally win three games in a row, scoring five or more runs for the ninth consecutive game Saturday, their longest streak in a decade. Yet just as the Mets convened Sunday in the clubhouse, they learned that Harvey would be not be starting after all against the Miami Marlins. It was Adam Wilk, a 29-year-old journeyman who had made one big-league appearance over the last five years.
He traveled all night to get to New York and was barely around long enough for the Mets to reintroduce themselves. Wilk lasted 32⁄3 innings, yielding eight hits, six runs (five earned) and three homers in the Mets’ 7-0 loss.
The Mets should have joined Harvey and gone home, too, as they produced one hit and three baserunners in an uninspired effort.
Well, if nothing else, the good news about Harvey’s suspension is that it’ll at least be three days before he can possibly get hurt.
New York’s rotation is in shambles these days, with Jacob deGrom the only starter from their season-opening quintet who has remained unscathed. Noah Syndergaard is out for two to three months with a torn lat. Steven Matz and Seth Lugo haven’t pitched this season. And now Harvey (5.14 ERA) has been ordered to take a seat.
No wonder the Mets claimed left-hander Tommy Milone from the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
The Mets’ everyday lineup, the oldest in the National League, is almost as big of a mess.
All- Star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, first baseman Lucas Duda, catcher Travis d’Arnaud and third baseman David Wright are on the disabled list.
Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera went down Saturday with an injured thumb, which could accelerate the promotion of Amed Rosario, their top prospect.
Outfielders Jay Bruce (nine homers and a .952 on-base plus slugging percentage) and Michael Conforto (.325, seven homers and 1.042 OPS) have rescued a lineup that has more everyday players on the DL than on the field.
Still, the Mets have managed to survive, insisting they will learn from mistakes. The next time a player declines to have an MRI, as Syndergaard did when he was scratched from a start with biceps soreness, the Mets might intervene and act responsibly.
The Mets permitted Syndergaard to make his start, and four outs later he was out with a torn lat muscle that could keep him sidelined until August.
“In the face of what transpired this time,” Alderson told reporters, “I would have to consider that very seriously before saying no. On the other hand, one thing I want to emphasize is we make these decisions every day. And one of them certainly went sideways.”
Despite all the adversity, the Mets (14-16) have a legitimate shot to reach the postseason. Sure, maybe they’re not going to catch the runaway Washington Nationals (21-10) in the NL East, but if the Mets can ever become healthy, they have the talent to capture a wild-card spot.
If nothing else, maybe now more than ever, they need that sense of humor, too.
If the season hasn’t been embarrassing enough, the Mets managed to add to it when they took a photo Friday on their official Twitter account of first baseman T.J. Rivera, the star of Friday’s game, posing in front of catcher Kevin Plawecki’s locker.
The trouble was that someone apparently placed a sex toy in Plawecki’s locker, and when the photo was tweeted to the Mets’ 837,000 followers, there it was, for the world to see.
“We’ve got some good pranksters in here, that’s for sure,” Plawecki said. “I mean, what can you do? Just got to laugh this one off.”
Really, considering all the Mets’ misadventures this season, maybe that should be their team refrain: “Laugh this one off.” Only, there comes a time, as Harvey apparently found out, when the laughter stops.
Not even Tim Tebow can spare them now.