MLB Trade Rumors: Orioles, Mets talking Matt Harvey
The New York Mets are looking to dump injured right-hander Matt Harvey, and the Baltimore Orioles are interested.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles are engaged in preliminary talks centered on former ace right-hander Matt Harvey. The O’s have plenty of depth to deal from their bullpen and have three holes to fill in their starting rotation. On the surface, this is an easy match.
#Orioles discussing trading a reliever for #Mets’ Harvey, sources tell The Athletic. Brach ($5.2M) and Harvey ($5.9M) have similar arb projections per @mlbtraderumors. Both entering FA years. O’Day owed $9M each of next two seasons.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 11, 2017
The Mets and Orioles were linked in early trade rumors last winter surrounding All-Star setup man Brad Brach. Nothing came of those talks, but the Mets obviously like Brach and were able to see him close for a few months last year while Zach Britton was on the disabled list for the Orioles.
Harvey is coming off a second ugly season in a row as he attempts to come back from thoracic outlet syndrome and subsequent surgery. He has looked like a shell of himself, with flagging velocity and rapidly declining control. Harvey is 9-17 the last two years with a 5.78 ERA and has walked 3.5 per nine while striking out only 6.9 per nine and surrendering well over a hit an inning. In 2017, Harvey gave up 21 home runs in only 92.2 innings and allowed 110 hits.
Regardless of how ugly it has looked on the mound for Harvey, the Orioles desperately need starting pitching. Their rotation had one of the worst years in MLB history last year, compiling a 5.70 ERA. To make matters worse, three of the “contributors” to that rotation are free agents and the team has limited internal options to replace them. The O’s have already been turned down by free agents Tyler Chatwood, Mike Fiers and Miles Mikolas. Again, making matters worse, Giancarlo Stanton just joined the New York Yankees. Good luck selling pitching in the AL East to any of the remaining mid-tier starting pitchers.
Next: Winners and losers from the Giancarlo Stanton trade
The Mets are prepared to move on from Harvey, whose off-field issues can no longer be tolerated as he struggles to imitate a useful MLB starter. Baltimore will do just about anything to field a competent rotation next season, even if it means taking a flier on a former ace fighting to keep his career alive.