Matt Harvey believes he can still pitch for the Mets this year
By Hayden Kane
Give Matt Harvey this: he likes to think outside the box. He has certainly established that about himself over the course of his short career with the New York Mets, and he was at it again with his latest theory on Friday.
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One thing that has been established by now is that Harvey will not pitch for the Mets during the 2014 regular season. For a while Harvey still tried to push to change that plan, but Sandy Alderson and company dug in and made it clear that Harvey would not have his time table accelerated so as to return in August or September.
Harvey isn’t giving up on the idea of pitching this season just yet, however. He’s just got a different plan in mind now. Now he is thinking about pitching in October. Danny Knobler of ESPN New York talked to Harvey after he threw off a mound without issue on Friday:
"The Mets say that Harvey could then face hitters in a low-intensity environment, possibly in the instructional league or in the Arizona Fall League.Harvey, of course, has bigger ideas.He’s thinking playoffs.Forget for a moment that the Mets are still a sub-.500 team. Forget that the Mets are still suggesting they don’t even want Harvey to pitch in a meaningless major-league game in September.He’s thinking playoffs.“Hopefully the guys will hold it together up here, and I’ll come see them in October,” he said with a grin."
Well alright then.
The future is bright for the Mets, possibly as soon as the start of the 2015 season. But it won’t be now, and we won’t see Harvey in meaningful action this fall. That said, I dare you not to admire Harvey’s optimism.