Matt Harvey does not want to wait until 2015 to return from Tommy John surgery. The Mets' ace has made that clear.
Is that a wise strategy?
Harvey told SI's Tom Verducci he wants to make "five, six, seven" starts at the end of this season to ease his concerns about his elbow.
"I just want the peace of mind," he said for a story published Tuesday. "I want to go back out there and know I still have the stuff to strike out major league hitters. And I want to know that when I shut it down at the end of the year, I'm just like everybody else shutting it down. I don't want to go through all this work and wonder all winter where I am. I want to be just like everybody else when this season ends and the next one starts."
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Harvey underwent surgery last October; a late August return means he'll have rehabbed for 10 months, much less than the prescribed minimum of 12 months. Harvey told Verducci he feels great physically after adding about 20 pounds, but he hasn't thrown at game speed since last year.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson expressed caution about Harvey, or any pitcher, returning before a full year has passed.
"Not being a medical doctor and not really faced with that decision previously, I'll reserve judgment. But the one thing we don't want to do is be put in a situation where someone — Matt, or anyone else — has a setback because we've pushed the natural recovery processes further than we should have," Alderson told reporters Tuesday, per ESPNNewYork.com.
A Harvey return in August could be a double-edged sword for the Mets. If they're in the wild-card race at that point, it would be very temping to add him to the rotation. It also could lead to unwanted stress on a player who's a huge piece of the franchise's future.
If they're out of contention, which is more likely, at least Harvey could work relatively pressure-free, but again, he'll still be coming back sooner than recommended.
A lot of tough decisions all around.
