Pros For Trading The Dark Knight
Matt Harvey has already established himself as a bonafide star pitcher in baseball. He proved it once again when he won the NL Comeback Player of the Year award after missing the entire 2014 season with Tommy John surgery. Mets fans certainly want Harvey to be a Met his entire career.
However, willhe re-sign with the Mets when he becomes a free agent in 2018?
The signs don’t look too favorable for the Mets. Matt has Scott Boras as his agent and we all know how Boras demands the most cash in all his clients. That was the case when Boras made a big fuss over Harvey’s innings limit in early September, fearing that Matt could get injured if he exceeded his total, which he did, and that Harvey wouldn’t get the mega deal that he could possibly get.
It nearly became ugly in September, and looking at the Mets relationship with Boras and even Harvey at times, the chances of Harvey staying with the Mets long terms appears slimmer. So, it doesn’t help matters that Harvey decided to still stick with Boras as his agent. Boras may have singlehandedly ruined Harvey’s chances of being a Met his entire career.
Alderson would probably not want to sign a huge deal that Harvey could probably command. It’s also important for the Mets to try to re-sign their other young starters like Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard when they enter their contract years which is a little later than Harvey. Harvey will be a free agent before the other starters and as of now it’ll look like he will receive the biggest contract which could be out of the Mets reach.
The Mets should look to trade Harvey while his value is high and they could get value in return instead of letting him go for nothing when he’s a free agent.
Finally, Harvey’s attitude at times leaves a lot to be desired. He’s always craved attention which could get players in trouble at times and while he’s the ultimate competitor, sometimes he may be too much of it, like in Game 5 of the World Series when he aggressively pleaded with manager Terry Collins to leave him in the ninth inning and Collins changed his mind which led to the Royals rallying back to tie it in the ninth and eventually winning the World Series over the Mets.
Then there’s the matter of the innings limit controversy when Harvey said that 180 was the limit, which angered a lot of fans and nearly got them turned against him.
Throughout his time with the Mets, there has been lots of drama surrounding Matt, such as 2014 when he wanted to rehab in NY rather than in Port St Lucie, wanting to come back in a meaningless September stretch and in 2015, his displeasure with the six-man rotation, and the innings limit controversy.
Do the Mets want to keep dealing with the drama surrounding Matt? Dramas are never a good thing in sports. like the New York Yankees have learned with A-Rod over the years.
