N.Y. Mets: Matt Harvey Will Place His Future Under The Knife

From the desk of:   HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

NEW YORK METS: The Time Bandit Opts For A Time Out.

MATT HARVEY WILL UNDERGO TOMMY JOHN SURGERY.

Deciding to undergo surgery is never an easy choice, but I'll admit I was pleased to hear Matt Harvey opted to follow through with the Tommy John named procedure to repair the partially torn tendon in his pitching elbow.  I just hope the doctor performing the surgery sleeps at a Holiday Inn before the procedure, wears his lucky rabbits foot, and rubs himself down with a live chicken first.

Trying to rehab his elbow back to health was a dicey situation for all involved.  I wouldn't have wanted Harvey to waste his and the club's time if next season, the tendon would have blown completely anyway.  Of course we don't know if that's what would have happened, but in all likelihood the tendon would not have lasted considering Harvey's hard over the top delivery.  Had he suffered a reoccurrence next year, all the perceived organization's past medical gaffes, from Ryan Church's concussion all the way to the present, would have immediately been revisited.  Sandy Alderson and the Mets would have never heard the end of it.  These last two weeks have been an unsettling situation for the Mets, as the decision to follow through, or rehab was always in Harvey's hands.

Matt Harvey will now officially miss the 2014 regular season, and I couldn't be more deflated over it.  Yeah, call it rotten luck.  We hardly knew him.  He managed thirty-six MLB starts before going down.  I call him the Time Bandit, but for this one wrong reason, he continues to live up to his name.  I don't want to over-dramatize the situation, but for Mets fans who remember, one can not help but think back to Generation-K and the Mets last major rebuilding effort of the mid-1990's.  Bill Pulsipher, Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson were to form a formidable pitching rotation of the future, but all went down via the knife and afterwards never really achieved the success hoped for by the club.  Only Izzy went on to enjoy a fruitful career, but most notably as a closer for the St. Louis Cardinals.

We'll hopefully say hello to Matt Harvey again during the 2015 regular season.  The success rate for the operation is over eighty percent, and many pitchers even come back better than before having the operation.

 I call him the Time Bandit, but for this one wrong reason, he continues to live up to his name.




Mike.BTB