Matt Harvey Hits The DL With Artery Blockage In His Shoulder, Might Miss This Year And Beginning Of Next If He Needs Surgery

NEW YORK — New York Mets right-hander Matt Harvey has been placed on the disabled list with right shoulder discomfort and has been dispatched to a St. Louis-based doctor who specializes in thoracic outlet syndrome and other blood-flow ailments. The Mets announced that Harvey was seen by team doctors, who recommended an examination with Dr. Robert Thompson. Thompson is affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine. He will evaluate Harvey on Thursday. Thompson performed season-ending surgery on then-Mets right-handerDillon Gee in July 2012 to repair a damaged shoulder artery that had resulted in a 96 percent blockage and a near-full loss of feeling in Gee’s arm. Logan Verrett is likely to take Harvey’s originally scheduled start Saturday against theWashington Nationals. The Mets will promote right-hander Seth Lugo from Triple-A Las Vegas to take Harvey’s roster spot.

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Lets start with the good news:

At least theres a reason Matt Harvey has stunk. We speculated about mental issues. We speculated about goddam chewing tobacco. There was no structural damage in his elbow, he had already had TJ surgery, and he just went out there and continued to suck. None of it made sense. Now, at least we have an answer. The mystery is over.

The bad news? The answer is that Matt Harvey is probably fucked. I mean lets be honest, what are the chances that a New York Met doesnt need surgery? You can pretty much put it in the books right now that Matt Harvey is going to need shoulder surgery. Cuncel the rest of this year. Cuncel the beginning of next year. And then Matt Harvey will be 28 years old with a surgically repaired elbow and shoulder. Cant really expect much from him in 2017 if he’s rehabbing shoulder and doesnt have a full season to pitch. So now you’re realistically looking at 2018 in his age 29 year, with basically zero full seasons under his belt for the previous 3 seasons. That is NOT a recipe for success. Obviously theres a chance none of this is the case if he can avoid surgery, but theres a strong chance thats the situation Matt Harvey is facing.

Its sad stuff. For Matt Harvey personally and for the team. I had high hopes for 2017. I thought next season would be the year this pitching staff finally clicks. In my mind 2017 was the year that all 5 of these guys would be healthy (enough, since no pitching staff is ever really 100%), experienced (enough, since Matz and Noah would have a full season under their belt) and the World Series hangover of pitching more innings than ever before would be gone. That was the season I had circled when we finally saw Noah-deGrom-Harvey-Matz-Wheeler night after night after night after night.

But thats not realistic. Its not possible. Do you know why its not possible? The primary reason that will never happen? Because if they all were healthy and they all panned out and that was the starting 5 the Mets would win 130 goddam games. Obviously theres a reason a pitching staff has never been that rock solid and its because even if youre lucky enough to acquire all the talent, everyone clicking at the same time health-wise and performance-wise is just not possible. Jayson Stark was on Mike and Mike this morning talking about “Will we ever see the Mets rotation all at the same time?” and the answer is no. Its a flat out no. Pitchers are too fragile and complicated to ever expect 5 awesome prospects all relatively the same age to pan out for the same team. The Mets have had to deal with 2 Tommy John victims (three if you include Matz in the minors) and I still think of them as being miraculously healthy. We’ve barely ever seen a prolonged stretch where 4 of them are available and pitching well, let alone 5, and I still say to myself “Man these guys are lucky these arms panned out.” This is as good as it gets for the Mets and their young arms. 1 or 2 pitching really well, 1 or 2 pitching ehhhh, and 1 probably completely sidelined. They showed last year thats good enough to make a World Series run but you cant realistically expect it to ever be better than that.

As for Matt, if that Doomsday Scenario plays out, he’ll always be a What If story for the Mets. He was that fireballer asshole competitor that took the Mets out of the dark abyss of insignificance but with his injury and Boras bullshit and off the field drama and now potentially a second injury, Harvey will go down as the “What If” dude of this generation.