Scott Boras: 'Matt Harvey gave his arm already' for the Mets
New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey addresses the media after he missed a mandatory team workout day at Citi Field on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
LOS ANGELES -- Agent Scott Boras, who instigated last month's Matt Harvey/innings limits controversy when he said the Mets would be putting the righthander "in peril" if they let him throw more than 180 innings, last night defended Harvey against allegations that he was putting his future interests ahead of the team's 2015 playoff run.
"Matt Harvey gave his arm already for the New York Mets," Boras said last night at Dodger Stadium before Game 1 of the NLDS. "In 2013, he went out and pitched until he didn't have a ligament. So he's the kind of guy that he wants his team to do well, he wants them to win and you've seen what he's done."
What Harvey has done is seemingly defied Boras and his doctor to continue pitching after he passed 180 innings. Harvey, the Mets' Game 3 starter on Monday, will only start once in the first round as a compromise in his first year back from Tommy John surgery.
Boras, who had dinner with Harvey at a local steakhouse on Thursday, declined to say whether he, Harvey and the Mets are now all on the same page.
"I think the best thing to say is we're in the playoffs," he said. "We're going to let the playoffs do what they're going to do. All of those discussion, his planning, are going to be I'm sure after the season."
Of his conversations with Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, Boras said: "We spoke in September about this to make sure the doctors were on the phone. We're in the playoffs and I think baseball just needs to be played here. You certainly want to players to focus on the game and that's what everybody should do ... I'm just watching everybody play baseball. I'm not going to comment on anything about what the club's doing or what we're doing. Matt's going to pitch. That's all I know."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL, for the sports department. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.