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It’s that time of the year again. The dog days of summer are now behind us, football season has be- gun, the crisp air of fall is begin- ning to hit and playoff races are heating up. It is almost time for what I believe is one of the greatest sporting events in our country: the Major League Baseball playoffs.
For one New York area team, though, it is a guessing game as to how its ace will be used. The Mets are finally relevant again and in the national spotlight, which is great for New York baseball. However, one announcement in the begin- ning of September put the Mets in the spotlight for a different reason. That announcement came from Matt Harvey and his agent, Scott Boras. On Sept. 6, all of a sudden, Harvey had an innings limit that reportedly came down from his surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, fol- lowing Tommy John surgery last year.
On Sept. 6, Harvey had already pitched 160 innings and he was now claiming to only have 20 more innings before he reached Andrews’ limit.
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The New York area media and the fans erupted. In the days following the announcement we saw the New York Post run back-page headlines such as “Pain in the Boras” and “Who needs Ya,” while Harvey vowed to pitch.
The Dark Knight had lived long enough to see himself become the villain.
But who are we to judge a man for doing whatever it takes to make as much money as he can?
Harvey is, of course, in the last year of his contract. It is only natural for an athlete to try to avoid an injury that would require an offseason surgery. That’s like buying a Corvette with a blown transmission. No one wants damaged goods.
On the flip side, the man has a right to preserve his career as long as possible. With all of the talk in the NFL on concussions and preventative measures to reduce in- juries, why do we want a baseball player to rush back from injury?
When we get hurt or are sick, we tend to take as much time as we can getting back to work. For athletes, not being fully healed can have career ending consequences.
You can question the loyalty of the player when he decides to take more money or the way he han- dles an injury, but in today’s sports world players are nothing but an agent’s puppet.
Boras has proved to be the man players look to when they want to get paid and owners cringe at when they see him walk into a negotiating room.
In my mind, Boras was the driving force behind Harvey coming out about his innings limit. Boras holds no loyalties, because his only loyalty is to the percentage cut he receives from the high-priced clien- tele who he represents.
To those that say that Harvey is a traitor for exposing an innings limit that no one knew about until September: Stop it.
It is the man’s choice. That is the beauty of sports. The only good to come out of this will be the fact that Harvey won back the fans by saying he will pitch in October.
Harvey is still the hero. For now.
Kevin Huebler is a broadcasting major from Forked River, N.J. He can be reached at Kevin.huebler@ student.shu.edu or on Twitter @ Hueblerkevin.
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