Matt Harvey

Quick Hits: Pujols, Harvey, Bundy, Anderson

By Mark Polishuk | September 9, 2021 at 10:57pm CDT

The idea of Albert Pujols playing one final season in a Cardinals uniform always seemed a bit fanciful, considering that Paul Goldschmidt now occupies first base in St. Louis, and that Pujols’ dropoff in production created doubt that he would even play beyond the 2021 season. However, Pujols has had a bit of a revival as a specialist against left-handed pitching, crushing southpaws to the tune of a .302/.336/.635 slash line and 13 home runs over 134 plate appearances this season.

As Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, signing Pujols in 2022 has some baseball value to a Cardinals team that may have a DH spot to work with in next year’s lineup. That is on top of the natural symbolism of bringing Pujols back for what would be his 22nd — and quite possibly final — MLB season in what Yadier Molina has already announced will be his own final season. If Adam Wainwright also re-signs with the team and decides to hang it up next winter (which is no sure thing given how well Wainwright continues to pitch), the 2022 season will carry a storybook feel for an entire era of Cardinals baseball, as well as a renewed charge towards another title.

Orioles Select Matt Harvey

By Steve Adams | March 25, 2021 at 8:46am CDT

The Orioles have selected the contract of veteran right-hander Matt Harvey, per a club announcement. The move fills Baltimore’s 40-man roster and assures Harvey of a spot on the Opening Day club. Harvey had an opt-out clause in his contract yesterday, which gave the O’s 48 hours to add him to the roster or cut him loose, Dan Connolly of The Athletic tweets.

Harvey inked a minor league deal with the O’s back in mid-February and reported to camp as non-roster invitee this spring. He’s started three Grapefruit League contests, during which he’s yielded six runs on 10 hits and a walk with six punchouts through 10 innings of work. He and fellow veterans Felix Hernandez and Wade LeBlanc have been vying for spots on an extremely inexperienced pitching staff. Lefty John Means is the only other true lock for the rotation, though young righty Dean Kremer and southpaw Keegan Akin both seem likely to leave Spring Training with starting jobs.

Harvey, 32 this weekend, is years removed from his status as one of the game’s most promising young aces and from the “Dark Knight” moniker that took baseball by storm. The No. 7 overall pick in the 2010 draft, Harvey was in the big leagues by 2012 and flat-out dominated opposing hitters early in his career. Through his first 427 big league frames, the righty notched an outstanding 2.53 ERA while striking out 26.6 percent of the batters he faced against an excellent 5.6 percent walk rate.

Injuries, however, have wreaked havoc on what looked to be a brilliant career in the making. Harvey missed the 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery, and while he was terrific during his 2015 return, he dealt with shoulder discomfort in 2016 before ultimately undergoing the much more ominous thoracic outlet surgery. The general track record of pitchers coming back from a thoracic outlet procedure isn’t great in the first place, and Harvey is one of few pitchers who underwent both Tommy John surgery and thoracic outlet surgery in a span of under three years.

Unsurprisingly, Harvey simply hasn’t been the same since. He regained some velocity following a trade to the Reds in 2018 and parlayed a decent showing with Cincinnati into a one-year, $11MM free-agent deal with the Angels. However, that contract proved regrettable for the Angels, who released Harvey that July. A 2020 comeback attempt with the Royals was similarly unproductive.

Overall, since returning from throacic outlet surgery, Harvey has tallied 319 innings in the Majors and limped to a 6.09 earned run average. He’s yielded 365 hits, including 67 home runs, in those 319 frames while watching both his strikeout and walk rates trend in the wrong direction. His fastball, which averaged 95.9 mph at his peak, sat at 93.2 mph with the Angels in 2019 and 94.1 mph with Kansas City last year (when he was working in shorter stints).

The Orioles will hope to catch lightning in a bottle and see Harvey bounce back to an extent, although at this point the expectations for a rebound should be rather low. Harvey’s deal guarantees him just a $1MM base salary, so it’s a low-cost roll of the dice for a tanking Orioles club.

Orioles To Sign Matt Harvey To Minors Deal

By Mark Polishuk | February 13, 2021 at 12:07pm CDT

12:07PM: Harvey will earn $1MM if he makes the Orioles’ active roster, Jon Meoli of The Baltimore Sun writes.

10:32AM: The Orioles have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Matt Harvey, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter).

Baltimore was known to be looking for veteran pitching depth, and the O’s already brought in another prominent name in Felix Hernandez earlier this month on another minors contract. King Felix will now be joined by the Dark Knight in competition for a spot in the Orioles’ rotation.

Whether Harvey sticks as a starting pitcher or perhaps is shifted to the bullpen is a question to be determined. Since undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2016, Harvey has an ungainly 6.09 ERA over 319 Major League innings with the Mets, Reds, Angels, and Royals. After inking a minor league deal with Kansas City last year, Harvey posted an 11.57 ERA over 11 2/3 innings for the Royals, allowing six home runs in that brief stint.

Three of Harvey’s seven appearances with K.C. came as a reliever, which marked his first bullpen work since the Mets removed him from the rotation after struggling early in the 2018 season. If he can’t crack Baltimore’s pitching staff, it seems likely that Harvey would embrace a full-on conversion to relief pitching as a way of potentially sticking on a big league roster and getting his career back on track.

The seventh overall pick of the 2010 draft, Harvey immediately burst onto the scene with excellent numbers in 2012-13, and finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting in 2013 (his new teammate Hernandez, incidentally, finished eighth in the AL Cy Young race that same season). After missing the 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery, Harvey rebounded with another strong year to help lead the Mets to the NL pennant in 2015. Unfortunately, mounting injuries and off-the-field issues clouded Harvey’s remaining years in the Big Apple before he was dealt to the Reds in May 2018.

Royals Option Jakob Junis, Place Matt Harvey On Injured List

By Steve Adams | September 16, 2020 at 11:48am CDT

The Royals announced Wednesday that they’ve optioned right-hander Jakob Junis to their alternate training site and placed Matt Harvey on the injured list due to a lat strain. Righty Scott Blewett and infielder Erick Mejia are up from the alternate site in place of Junis and Harvey.

For Junis, who turns 28 today, this move represents the latest step in a downward trajectory over the past two seasons. He looked to have emerged as a serviceable innings eater for Kansas City in 2017-18, when he tossed 275 1/3 innings over 46 starts, averaging 8.0 strikeouts, 2.2 walks and 1.54 homers per nine innings along the way.

However, Junis was rocked for a 5.24 ERA last season, and the 2020 campaign has been nightmarish. He has yet to complete five innings in any of his six starts this year, and he’s surrendered at least two runs in each of those outings. Overall, he’s sitting on a 6.94 ERA and a similarly grisly 6.76 FIP. He’s falling behind hitters more regularly (57 percent first-pitch strike rate compared to 62.7 in 2018) and has already served up seven long balls on the year.

Junis will need to stay down at the alternate site for 10 days unless he’s recalled in place of someone who is going on the injured list, so it’s quite possible that this move effectively ends his 2020 season. He’s already crossed the three-year threshold in terms of Major League service time this year, meaning he’ll be eligible for arbitration this winter. Given his 5.44 ERA and 5.05 FIP over his past 37 MLB starts and 198 2/3 innings, Junis isn’t a lock to be tendered a contract this winter.

Harvey, too, seems likely to be done for the year in the wake of this injury. While there’s no official word on the severity of the strain, a lat strain typically isn’t something from which a pitcher returns in the minimum 10-day allotment. The former Mets ace had hoped this latest comeback attempt would prove more fruitful than previous efforts, but Harvey turned in his worst numbers to date at the MLB level. He managed just 11 2/3 innings between four starts and three relief outings, yielding 15 runs on 27 hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts along the way. Harvey served up six dingers in that stretch.

If there’s a small silver lining, Harvey’s 94.5 mph average fastball was up from recent years, but it’s still shy of the 96-97 mph he averaged at his brief but dominant peak. Unfortunately for Harvey, injuries have decimated what looked to be one of the most promising young arms in the game earlier last decade. The former No. 7 overall pick logged a brilliant 2.53 ERA and 2.65 FIP through his first 427 Major League innings — plus another 26 2/3 frames of 3.02 ERA ball in the playoffs — but he’s undergone both Tommy John and thoracic outlet surgery. Few pitchers have had successful returns from a TOS procedure, and battling back from both of those major operations is an even more daunting task.

Royals Move Matt Harvey To Bullpen

By Connor Byrne | September 10, 2020 at 4:47pm CDT

Right-hander Matt Harvey has gotten another chance this year to get his once-great career back on track, but he hasn’t been able to take advantage of the opportunity since the Royals promoted him Aug. 18. He’ll now move to the Royals’ bullpen with a couple weeks left in the season, while Carlos Hernandez will join their rotation, Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star tweets.

A front-end starter earlier in his career, injuries – including thoracic outlet surgery – knocked Harvey from elite status a few years ago. He hasn’t recovered since, and this is now the second straight horrid season in the majors for the Dark Knight. He struggled so much with the Angels last year that they bailed on him in July 2019 despite an $11MM investment. While Harvey did land a minor league contract with the Athletics the next month, he didn’t make it back to the majors last season and didn’t find another deal until the Royals signed him this past July.

From the non-contending Royals’ standpoint, there wasn’t much to lose in giving the 31-year-old Harvey a shot. The buy-low move has yielded disastrous results so far, though, as Harvey has surrendered 13 earned runs on 22 hits (including five home runs) and an 8:5 K:BB ratio in just 10 innings. He hasn’t lasted longer than three innings in any of his five appearances with KC.

Based on his performance in recent years, Harvey is likely headed for another minor league pact in the offseason. Of course, that’s if anyone wants to roll the dice on a hurler who has recorded a major league-worst 6.07 ERA in 317 1/3 innings since 2017.

Royals To Promote Matt Harvey

By Mark Polishuk | August 18, 2020 at 1:40pm CDT

1:40PM: Harvey will start the second game of the Royals’ doubleheader with the Reds tomorrow, the team announced.

11:28AM: Cue the inevitable “The Dark Knight Rises In K.C.” headlines. The Royals are calling right-hander Matt Harvey up to the Major League roster, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Harvey inked a minor league deal with Kansas City in late July and is now on track to earn the prorated portion of a $575K salary upon reaching the majors.

It isn’t known when Harvey could take the hill for K.C., given that the team’s schedule is somewhat in flux due to the rescheduling of games in their current series with the Reds. With Jakob Junis recently placed on the 10-day injured list and Mike Montgomery’s return potentially in question due to his placement on the 45-day IL, however, there is certainly opportunity for Harvey to find some innings in the rotation.

Harvey last appeared in a Major League game on July 18, 2019, the final outing of a rough tenure with the Angels that saw the former All-Star post a 7.09 ERA over 59 2/3 frames. After bursting onto the scene with the Mets earlier this decade, Harvey began to develop shoulder issues in 2016 that eventually led to thoracic outlet surgery, and the righty simply hasn’t looked the same since.

Since the start of the 2017 season, Harvey has a 5.89 ERA over 307 1/3 MLB innings. Between the end of his tenure in New York and his tough year in Anaheim, Harvey did perform decently well (4.50 ERA, 3.96 K/BB rate, 7.8 K/9) over a 128-inning stint with the Reds in 2018. Most recently, there were positive reports on Harvey at the Royals’ alternate training site, as GM Dayton Moore said he liked what he had seen from the 31-year-old’s work.

Latest On Matt Harvey

By Connor Byrne | August 12, 2020 at 10:15pm CDT

Former Mets ace Matt Harvey may not be far from a return to the major leagues, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com writes. Now with the Royals, Harvey will throw an intrasquad game Thursday, after which the club will evaluate whether it should promote him to the bigs. General manager Dayton Moore has been encouraged by what he has seen from Harvey, whom the Royals signed to a minor league contract in late July.

“He’s throwing well,” Moore said (via Flanagan). “And he’s a guy who can serve a variety of roles for us. He can be a starter, he can be a long man, he might even be able to help us in the back of the bullpen. We’ll see.”

Harvey peaked with the Mets from 2012-15, a period in which he gave the club front-line production, but the Dark Knight also missed a full season (2014) because of Tommy John surgery. While Harvey bounced back brilliantly from that procedure, he hasn’t been able to rebound from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent in 2016. For the most part, Harvey struggled mightily with the Mets, Reds and Angels over the previous three seasons. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since July 7, 2019, as a member of the Angels, and he finished last season on a minors pact with the Athletics.

Although his career has fallen off a cliff, there was no real harm in taking a low-cost chance on Harvey from the rebuilding Royals’ standpoint. If he ever does don their uniform, it’ll be intriguing to see how the 31-year-old fares.

Royals Sign Matt Harvey

By Steve Adams | July 28, 2020 at 10:01am CDT

JULY 28: This deal is now official. Harvey’s pact will be worth a prorated $575K if he makes the Royals, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com tweets. It also includes performance bonuses for games started.

JULY 23: The Royals are close to a deal with free agent right-hander Matt Harvey, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). It seems quite likely to be a minor league pact for the Scott Boras client, who would need to be added to Kansas City’s 60-man player pool before reporting to their alternate training site. Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds that a deal between the two sides is expected to be completed today.

Harvey, 31, struggled with the Angels in 2019 when he totaled 59 2/3 innings with a 7.09 ERA, 5.9 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. He had a solid run in Cincinnati following a trade in 2018, though, pitching to a 4.50 ERA and 4.33 FIP in 24 starts. By all accounts, he fit in well in the Reds’ clubhouse, and Harvey himself spoke to the New York Post’s Dan Martin earlier this year about the manner in which he feels he’s grown since his early years with the Mets. “I’ve grown up and matured on and off the field,” Harvey told Martin. “There are a lot of things I’d do differently, but I don’t like to live with regret.”

The Royals are already carrying a pair of Boras-represented reclamation projects in right-handers Greg Holland and Trevor Rosenthal, and Harvey will hope to join that bunch. It’s been years since he was New York’s “Dark Knight,” a budding ace who took the NL by storm with a 2.53 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 through his first 427 MLB innings. Harvey’s arm has been put through the ringer since then, however, as Tommy John surgery and Thoracic Outlet Surgery have sapped his heater and rendered him a shell of that previous self.

It’s easy to forget, though, that Harvey is still only in his early 30s. A rebound shouldn’t be ruled out completely, as the raw talent is clearly there, but adjustments clearly need to be made. A successful Harvey rebound would make for quite the storyline, but we’re a long way from the point at which that feels especially plausible.

Quick Hits: Harvey, Torkelson, Giants

By Connor Byrne | June 11, 2020 at 4:16pm CDT

While free-agent right-hander Matt Harvey has drawn the attention of teams in the Korea Baseball Organization, a KBO match may not be all that likely. KBO clubs are currently wary of adding new players to their roster because those individuals would need at least six weeks from debuting, per Daniel Kim of MBC. There would be a few notable hoops for someone like Harvey to jump through, including a two-week quarantine, acquiring a work visa and getting into game shape. There’s also the fact that KBO teams are only allowed to carry two foreign-born pitchers, Jay Jaffe of FanGraphs points out. Beyond that, Jaffe explains that Harvey may have a difficult time boosting his stock enough in the KBO even if he does land there. The former ace, 31, is coming off a mostly disastrous run over the past few seasons, thanks in part to major injuries and a serious dip in velocity, so it’s unclear whether he’ll get another MLB opportunity.

Matt Harvey Has Received KBO, NPB Interest

By Steve Adams | June 9, 2020 at 4:40pm CDT

June 9: Harvey has also drawn interest from teams in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

June 5: Former Mets ace Matt Harvey recently made known that he’s throwing regular bullpen sessions and hoping for another shot in the Majors, but the right-hander has also received interest from at least one club in the Korea Baseball Organization, MLBTR has confirmed. SBS in South Korea reported yesterday that Harvey had received interest and is at least open to the idea.

That said, there are some notable caveats to consider. Harvey does not appear to have received an offer, and the team in question is not focused solely on Harvey, a source tells MLBTR. It’s possible that the club could ultimately extend an offer to another pitcher of interest. KBO teams are capped at the number of foreign players they’re allowed to roster at the same time, so it’s not likely that the interested team would pursue multiple arms.

Furthermore, there are still some real obstacles with regard to actually getting a foreign pitcher up to speed with a KBO club. Daniel Kim of South Korea’s MBC recently tweeted that teams believe it could take four to six weeks to get a new player into game action. Beyond the actual negotiation and paperwork, the incoming player would need to go into a mandatory two-week quarantine upon arriving in South Korea. Pitchers, in particular, would then need some time to build up to game readiness. Just as many signed pitchers throughout MLB feel they’ll need a minimum three-week ramp-up period before returning to play, Harvey or any other pitcher would need a few weeks to build up his pitch counts.

It’s hard not to wonder what it’d be like to see a player who was at one time such a high-profile star make his way over to the KBO. There’d be some risks for Harvey, as a poor showing in the KBO would only further limit his appeal to MLB teams. Still, given the likely absence of a minor league season in 2020, it’s not as though he can hope for the opportunity to go prove himself in a Triple-A setting. Harvey’s most direct path back to the Majors right now is to hope that a team would be willing to carry him on an expanded roster/taxi squad, but his ugly 2019 numbers might make that a difficult path to achieve. A strong showing in the KBO could serve as a half-season audition for Major League clubs in 2021 and/or lead to 2021 offers in the KBO or Japan’s NPB.

Harvey, 31, struggled with the Angels in 2019 when he totaled 59 2/3 innings with a 7.09 ERA, 5.9 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9. He had a solid run in Cincinnati following a trade in 2018, though, pitching to a 4.50 ERA and 4.33 FIP in 24 starts. By all accounts, he fit in well in the Reds’ clubhouse, and Harvey himself spoke to the New York Post’s Dan Martin last month about the manner in which he feels he’s grown since his early years with the Mets. “I’ve grown up and matured on and off the field,” Harvey told Martin. “There are a lot of things I’d do differently, but I don’t like to live with regret.”

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