NY Mets News: Matt Harvey done for 2021, what’s next for him?

Former New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey remains one of the more captivating active players in baseball that people in the Big Apple can’t get enough of. His year with the Baltimore Orioles is now over with a knee injury and a transfer to the 60-day IL.

This concludes the Dark Knight’s latest comeback attempt. He’ll finish the year with 28 starts (good) and a bunch more statistics (bad).

He went 6-14 with a 6.27 ERA. These sum up his season well enough. Add in only 6.7 strikeouts per nine and we can see why Harvey’s future in baseball remains uncertain. Harvey heads into free agency once again this winter. It has been a theme for him every winter since leaving the Mets. Each time, Harvey has landed with a new club.

What’s next for former Mets ace Matt Harvey?

Now 32, the days of wondering if Harvey can recapture any of his golden years seem to have faded away. He’s at the age where even the best pitchers tend to decline. Harvey has been anything but the best post-2015. During those years, he has combined to go 25-48 with a 5.92 ERA.

Harvey’s trip to Baltimore was statistically doomed from the start. The Orioles were set to be one of the league’s worst teams—an expectation they lived up to—and pitching half of his games at Camden Yards wouldn’t help him either.

Even knowing this, I think future suitors would have given him the benefit of the doubt.

Hard to believe at this point, Harvey was actually 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA after his first seven starts. This was on May 7th. Unfortunately, he would go on a losing streak. He wouldn’t get his fourth win until July 18 when he tossed six shutout innings versus the Kansas City Royals, the team he played for last year. Harvey entered that game with a 7.70 ERA. That wasn’t even the highest it reached.

It doesn’t feel like Harvey has many more places to go after this. Disinterested in pitching in relief for the Mets back in 2018 prior to his trade to the Cincinnati Reds, this might be the only way he stays in the big leagues.

The transition is the only fathomable way Harvey has any sustained big league success ever again. If he actually considers it, someone at the bottom of the league is going to take a chance on him. He’s 32, not 42.

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Surely, there are a few Mets fans out there who are hoping to see him end up back in Queens before he hangs up his cleats for good. Perhaps this is what does happen but I suspect it wouldn’t go beyond a few spring training appearances. Frankly, the Mets are in no position to add players as a favor. It’s time to win and sadly for Harvey, those days are probably in the past.