Matt Harvey recently saw Dr. James Andrews, and after seeking his opinion, he will not undergo Tommy John surgery for the time being. Harvey will try to rehabilitate the torn ulnar ligament in his elbow for the next six to eight weeks, and see how the arm feels after that.
"I've never had pain in my actual elbow area, where the UCL is," Harvey told reporters. "For me, it felt like why jump into surgery in a situation where I never had tingling, numbness, shooting pain in my elbow? If rehab is the way to go...then that's what I want to do."
Harvey had relatively positive news when he saw Dr. James Andrews.
"Nothing was moving in places it shouldn't." Andrews said.
Tommy John surgery isn't out of the question, and if he does end up undergoing the procedure, he could wait until December. If he waits until then, the timeline wouldn't be much different from what it is now, as either way would likely keep him out the entire 2014 season.
Harvey had an incredible 2013 season, posting a 2.27 ERA in 26 starts, while striking out 191 batters in 178.1 innings.
Despite that success, Sandy Alderson doesn't think that Harvey's presence will be missed too much if he is lost next year.
"It won't effect our plans as much as suggested," Alderson said. "We have depth at starting pitching. I don't see us working hard if he can't come back."
At this point, everyone involved in the situation can just keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best. The initial thought of losing Harvey for the entire 2014 season was heartbreaking, but if surgery is what he needs to come back and get stronger, then I'd be all for it.
However, since he is electing this route, we can only hope that his elbow continues to get stronger. The word is that if over 30 percent of the ligament is torn, then it would require Tommy John surgery. However, Sandy Alderson has not given out an official percentage on that.
If Harvey is lost for the 2014 season, I disagree with Alderson when he said that he wouldn't be missed too much. Pitching depth is always incredibly important, but Harvey is supposedly the team's ace, and if the Mets have any intent on contending next year, you would think that having their ace out there every fifth day would give them an advantage.
All in all, we'll just have to wait and see. Short term this may work in Harvey's favor, but long-term hopefully this doesn't handcuff him.
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