How Mets now will use Matt Harvey, who isn’t getting babied
ST. LOUIS — Fixing Matt Harvey is important to the Mets, but it hardly ranks as the team’s primary goal.
So Harvey, in his new role as reliever, will be treated like any other member of the bullpen. In other words, the Mets will not create situations for Harvey to pitch just for the sake of getting him into a game. Likewise, there is no situation from which Harvey will be exempt, if the game dictates.
“This isn’t about one person, it’s about 25 guys and the whole organization, so we’re going to do what we need to win games,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said before the Mets faced the Cardinals on Tuesday at Busch Stadium. “This isn’t extended spring training, where we are going to pick and choose our spots to develop a guy. We are not trying to develop anything here, we are trying to win games.”
Harvey, who was informed Saturday of his removal from the rotation and shift to the bullpen, was available in relief for the first time on Tuesday. It came as part of a fully rested bullpen, following a rainout in Atlanta and scheduled off day.
And the Mets were confident Harvey’s anger over losing his starting job had subsided enough that he was ready to embrace his new role. In four starts, Harvey was 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA.
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“We’ve had a lot of conversations, just he and I about the whole thing and he’s taking it like a man,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He wasn’t excited about it, but he’s going to go out there and do the job. When the time comes and we call his name, he’s going to go out there and get the job done.”
Callaway noted the starting pitchers he mentored with the Indians who were sent to the bullpen — Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar — initially resisted the move, as did Harvey.
“Nobody wants to come out of the starting rotation,” Callaway said. “It’s a tough message. It’s a tough thing to accept as a player, but he accepted it and he’s going to get the job done.”
Eiland was asked if the transition will be more difficult mentally or physically for Harvey.
“That’s the debate,” Eiland said. “If you’re not right mentally you are not going to be right physically. You have to have the right mindset, and it’s going to be different for Matt. It’s going to be, he doesn’t have the time to go in the training room and do all his prep work and the arm bands and the stretching and the long toss.
“When the phone rings he’s got to get up and get it going. But we are going to be conscious of making sure he gets enough time to get his arm loose. Just go out and compete.”
Ideally, Harvey’s first relief appearance would come in a low-pressure spot in which he’s allowed to pitch a full inning. The fact the Cardinals’ lineup is stacked with right-handed hitters plays into that possibility.
“In a perfect world we want to give him enough time to warm up properly and maybe start his own inning,” Eiland said. “But if the game dictates, if we have to get him up and get him in the middle of an inning to snuff something out we will.”