Matt Harvey has elected to undergo surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder, agent Scott Boras tells ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. The operation will end Harvey’s 2016 season.
Harvey was placed on the disabled list earlier this week, and it was reported soon after that he was to be evaluated for thoracic outlet syndrome — a compression of nerves and blood vessels in the shoulder area that is often alleviated by the removal of a rib in the patient. Twins right-hander Phil Hughes underwent the same procedure earlier this week, and other recent examples of players to undergo the procedure include Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia and Chris Young.
The injury has undoubtedly contributed to Harvey’s down season. The 26-year-old has posted a 4.86 ERA with diminished strikeout (7.4 K/9), walk (2.4 BB/9) and ground-ball (40.8 percent) rates while also seeing a 1.5 mph dip in his fastball velocity. Harvey has reportedly been experiencing numbness in his hand while pitching and, via Newsday’s Marc Carig (on Twitter), told manager Terry Collins following his most recent start (in Collins’ words): “My shoulder’s dead. My arm’s dead. There’s no energy there. I couldn’t feel the ball.”
The loss of Harvey is magnified by the fact that two of the Mets’ excellent young starters, Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard, are pitching through bone spurs in their elbows. Matz’s spur is said to be the larger and more severe of the two, and surgery has been mentioned as an option for him as well, though he’s hoping to delay the procedure until the offseason, as going under the knife would essentially end his 2016 campaign as well. Right-hander Zack Wheeler, too, has suffered some setbacks in his recovery from Tommy John surgery and doesn’t currently have a projected return date.
For now, the Mets will utilize Syndergaard, Matz, Jacob deGrom and Bartolo Colon as their front four starters, with right-hander Logan Verrett stepping into the rotation this weekend. Additional alternatives include lefty Sean Gilmartin and right-handers Rafael Montero, Robert Gsellman, Gabriel Ynoa and Seth Lugo (as can be seen on their depth chart), though several of those pitchers have struggled while pitching in the hitter-friendly environs of Triple-A Las Vegas this season.
Tough break. 50/50 if he ever comes back fully from what I’ve been able to gather
That’s about right, considering he’s not older like the others that were diminished upon their return.
Scott Boras must be throwing a tantrum in his office right now…
Nah, it’s only one of his clients. But if something happens to Scherzer…
Mets reliving K generation right before their eyes.
Not really. He’ll be back in 2017, and Matz Syndergaard and DeGrom have all performed
Except, Generation K literally did nothing. These guys have gone to a World Series without Wheeler, who was rated higher than Harvey, deGrom, Matz, Montero (lol he’s so bad now).
Lol at the Generation K guy. Not quite, sport. Keep trying though!
Exactly, theruns!
Stop it!
I feel like people forget about Zack Wheeler. It’s gonna be huge to get him back.
Except no one has any idea when that will be.
Or at what kind of pitcher he’ll be either. Injuries can really ravage potential.
He got paid for Scherzer already. He doesn’t care.
If something happens to Scherzer well Boras still gets his commission
Didn’t Folty have to have a rib removed as well ?
Missing rest of the season, what a surprise. Next we’ll hear Harvey
The Mets will NEVER have all five of their young studs in the rotation at the same time. If it’s not wheeler it’s Harvey. Next year it will be Syndergaard or DeGrom or Matz. Best of luck to Harvey
Not that Boros could’ve possibly seen this coming, but this is one of those moments where a young player listening to their agents strategy and not entertaining a big contract early in their career at a team discount can backfire. Aside from the friction caused by Boros between Harvey and the Mets late last year, I’m sure Harvey is beginning to second guess what could have been done differently with the team to secure a contract, albeit a team discounted contract. It’s going to be a tough climb for him to get back to even a team discounted level based on the history of pitchers post surgical successes, or lack of.
I wonder if other young, existing Boros clients are looking at this as an example vs. his typical strategy. This has got to be a tough one for Harvey to deal with…
Boras was at least looking out for Harvey last year, trying to make sure he didn’t have his arm reinjured
The only person Boras was looking out for was Boras. If he gave a shit about his clients he would realize securing the finamcial future is important and trying to make your players just simply go to the top bidder is not looking out for them. Sometimes its better to stay put if you are comfortable stay where you like it and have success even if you take a hometown discount
I know you didn’t explicitly fault Boras, but I’m not sure he deserves any blame in this. His business model is generally effective, but each of his clients is free to ignore his advice at any time. There’s always risk with going year-by-year, but it’s the best way to go to retain maximize earning potential
Maximum earning potential is not what should be the primary focus. The entire career amd where you play and have success and fan support amd where your raise your family. All of it should be considered. Boras is not concerned with his players overall happiness or success as long as he gets ever nickel at the expense of having his clients be his pawn
I wonder if this has anything to do with throwing more than the recommended amount of innings the year after TJ surgery.
It could be worse. He could have actually been pitching well this year. His replacement can’t do much worse.
Guess they shouldn’t have pushed Harvey so hard last season and made him go way over the recommended limit of innings
There is no real recommended limit of innings post-TJ. There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model. Every player, arm and recovery is different. It’s all a guessing game.
Is this a relatively new phenomenon? I remember 20+ years ago hearing about pitchers having dead arm.
Hopefully his career is not over.
Harvey, now Syndergaard. Next will be deGrom…
Nah…Matz is half way there already.
Mets need to keep Cespedes in left. Granderson has one year left on his contract so keep a young guy like Conforto of Nimmo around. Lagares is a keeper because he can play gold glove caliber center-field and has speed. The outfield is landlocked for a while. Unless the Mets can move Lagares and Nimmo/Conforto for a super-Star center-fielder. Since their aren’t many out there, I don’t see a trade for an outfielder. The only guys available that would make sense are Trout and Blackmon. Blackmon is a good hitter with some pop and speed and plays a good center-field. He is 30 and is owed about 1.5 million on his current contract. He is arbitration eligible the next two years.. Trout is too costly and The Angels would build a team around a soon turning 25 year old guy who is the best player in the game.
Blackmon is the guy to get if they can get him for a reasonable price.