5:07pm: Harvey is seeing Dr. Thompson to check out the team’s “suspicion” that Harvey could be dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome, Newsday’s David Lennon tweets. The syndrome involves a compression of nerves and/or blood vessels in the shoulder area, and can be quite painful.
Several hurlers have dealt with it in recent years; most recently, Phil Hughes underwent season-ending surgery to treat his own bout with the issue. In his case, though, he had been pitching through it for quite some time. Royals righty Chris Young also had work done to alleviate his issues, which gave his career new life. Beyond the Box Score’s Nick Lampe took an interesting look at pitchers who have undergone surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, with mixed results.
4:35pm: The Mets have placed righty Matt Harvey on the 15-day DL, per a club announcement. The teams says that Harvey is dealing with right shoulder discomfort.
This news raises yet more serious concerns about a pitcher who already hasn’t looked himself this year. Expected to lead a rotation full of outstanding arms, Harvey has instead been the black sheep of the group, pitching to a 4.86 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 over 92 2/3 innings. There have been some ups and downs mixed in, but the aggregate falls shy of the ace-level results that Harvey has traditionally posted.
It’s not immediately clear whether this is a long-simmering issue or a newly-arising problem, but a glance at Harvey’s Brooks Baseball page shows one apparent change in recent weeks: a sudden and drastic shift in his horizontal arm slot. He’ll visit shoulder specialist Dr. Robert Thompson, who — as Marc Carig of Newsday notes on Twitter — is an expert in vascular issues such as thoracic outlet syndrome.
Harvey had returned from Tommy John surgery last year in dramatic fashion, logging 189 1/3 innings of 2.71 ERA ball with 8.9 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. That was a largely unprecedented jump in innings for a pitcher who was working with a new UCL, and Harvey went on to throw another 26 2/3 in the post-season — which also shortened his winter rest period. While we haven’t heard of any elbow-related concerns, it’s hard not to wonder whether there could be any connection between that series of events and Harvey’s current malady.
New York has called up righty Seth Lugo to take Harvey’s place on the active roster, but he’s not an option to step into the rotation. For the time being, the club will likely go to swingman Logan Verrett, as they have on several prior occasions this year.
[Related: Updated Mets Depth Chart]
In the event that Harvey requires a lengthier absence, things could begin to get tricky. Steven Matz is pitching through a painful bone spur at the moment, so he’s a bit of a question mark, too. And the obvious replacement – Tommy John rehabber Zack Wheeler — is still not throwing bullpen sessions, per another Carig tweet. That’s still an enviable pitching situation, but a piece or two of bad luck could raise some real depth concerns with the cub’s key area of strength.
That’s not to say that there aren’t other pieces on hand. Former top prospect Rafael Montero is still pitching at Triple-A, but the results haven’t been pretty. Also working in Las Vegas are hurlers such as Gabriel Ynoa and Sean Gilmartin. Ynoa may be at the top of the team’s list among its farmhands, Mike Puma of the New York Post suggests on Twitter.
maybe the extra rest with the all-star game will help some.
Yeah, a start or two in the minors in addition will help clear his head too.
I’m no expert but I’ve had this diagnoses for more then 2 years. Not a pitcher, not a doctor, no big league money. Grain of salt. Yadda Yadda.
Rest is very rarely going to fix or improve Thoracic Outlet Syndrome..
It’s a bundle of nerves, an artery and a vein that get pinched off somewhere between the neck and shoulder. It typically appears over time so a lot of people don’t know they have it right away. It’s the ulnar nerve that gets pinched so you’ll most likely see the middle, ring and pinky fingers have more numbing/tingling symptoms then anywhere else.
Treatment is normally therapy to loosen the muscles that are causing the compression, which is fine if you can actually figure out where and why it’s getting pinched. There’s a lot of stuff in there that can go wrong. I’d expect a lot of time with team doctors and therapists trying to release and decompress everything from the neck to the chest to the shoulder. Treatment can be like pealing an onion for some, fix one thing and find the next issues in layers.
Positive results from surgery for TSO is not a sure thing. If you can pinpoint something on the MRI/x-rays like an abnormal bone growth that needs to be decompressed that might be a candidate for surgery. If I was the Mets I’d be scared to just throw him under the knife without a clear reason.
This has to be a Bad Thing for pitchers, but mostly recoverable and temporary. He could make a full recovery rather quickly if it’s addressed properly. And since he’s worth millions I imagine it will be.
If it’s not TSO then your guess is as good as mine. Honestly even if it IS TSO your guess is as good as mine.
man that’s long. sorry for the novel folks.
Is Ynoa ready to start in the majors?
Overrated.
Definitely. This guy is a mess mentally and physically. I’m sure the Mets will want to rid themselves of him but good luck finding a taker who will give up something good. Harvey is always injured and a head case.
Always injured? He had Tommy John Surgery and now has shoulder discomfort. If you think a team won’t take him you’re out of your mind.
Ummmm he’s 27 and has had TJ surgery and now this. ANY elbow or shoulder injury is cause for concern no matter how high profile the pitcher is. Teams will want him just simply because he’s Matt Harvey but he’s certainly not worth a blue chip prospect.
Oh some one would take him. But they wouldn’t give up nearly as much as they would a few years ago. His value has steadily gone down each season. Plus he seems like a head case and has said dumb things in the past. Unless the Mets get real and unload him for about 2 mid-level prospects or 1 MLB player (average to slightly above average everyday player), they will not find a taker.
Don’t feed the troll. This Ravens guy is always trolling the NBA rumors trying to rustle jimmies.
Always injured? I guess you haven’t paid attention to his career. This is his second injury bud
Only his second injury but his second injury to his throwing arm. First elbow and now the shoulder. Might only be two injuries but fairly significant injuries for a pitcher.
You’re a moron. Go cheer for your Ravens and stay away from everything trade rumors!
how? look at his past stats… rough first half but cmon he’s not overrated because of it
There is a typo in the second to last paragraph – it says “cub’s key area of strength”.
LOL!
What a pansy !!!
Pansy? I know he may be constantly injured but a pansy? He has TOS, which is pretty painful if not treated correctly, Phil Hughes just went down for the season with this. I doubt having a painful syndrome, then going on the DL qualifies to help alleviate said syndrome as being a “pansy”
Th Mets, who disregarded the doctor’s advice on innings for Harvey last year, better hope they didn’t screw things up. They also better be careful with Thor and matz bone spurs.
Well first it’s an entirely different part of the arm. Second, courts still in recess about having a hard cap on innings after tj anyway. If you’re gonna look at it, why not go down to total pitches, because I remember in the middle of the whole debacle last year they broke it down and he only threw like 3/4 as many pitches compared to the league average per inning. High stress inning would be a better measure as well. Third, I think the whole inning thing last year was more a work of Boras more than anything else.
I don’t get the whole innings cap thing. If a guy struggles through 5 stressful innings at 100 pitches, isn’t that as difficult (or more) than the 100 through 7? Why not go by pitches thrown instead?
I believe they figure there’s an average “X” amount of pitches thrown per inning, thus they continue to go by that rather than saying a pitcher’s ceiling is limited by the number of throws.
That tends to even out over time – some stressful, some easy innings – so it kind of balances out. Regardless, the innings are just a guide. There has to be some assessment along the lines of what you’re suggesting, not to mention a more subjective look at the mechanics, approach, etc.
Bottom line, though, is that nobody has pushed a guy returning from TJ as hard as the Mets did with Harvey last year. If anything, a qualitative assessment of his innings would probably show added concern since he was throwing high leverage innings (postseason) when he was already past typical usage.
I kind of like what I have seen in Robbles when he has pitched in extended relief. Just a thought but ….?
As a braves fan HAHA
Season ending surgery