May 8: The Mets have been trying to add a catcher in return for Harvey, per Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link). Puma adds that the Padres are also in the mix for Harvey.
May 7: The Mets are “confident” they will strike a deal involving righty Matt Harvey, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). At this point, says Rosenthal, there are “four to five teams interested” in taking a chance on the former ace.
Harvey was formally designated for assignment on May 5th, meaning his situation will be resolved one way or another by Saturday the 12th. If he’s not traded, Harvey would need to go onto waivers; if he were then to pass through unclaimed, he’d hit the open market (whether by release or by rejecting an outright assignment).
We checked in earlier today on some teams with varying degrees of interest in Harvey. The Giants seem clearly to be involved, though their interest level isn’t clear. (Andy Martino of SNY.tv tweets there’s “very strong” interest, while MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports (via Twitter) that it’s much more tepid, with some significant roadblocks to a swap.) Martino adds the Reds as a possibility, joining the previously reported Mariners in that regard. And Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets that the White Sox are also in the mix. There’s some uncertainty about the status of the Orioles, but they are among the organizations that would make some degree of sense on paper.
Of course, we’ve also seen plenty of reports of other teams that will not be in on the 29-year-old. It appears the Rangers have decided against pursuing Harvey in a trade scenario despite giving it serious consideration. Otherwise, the Rays, Tigers, Red Sox, and Yankees are said not to be involved.
If a deal does, in fact, get done, Rosenthal says not to expect the Mets to shave away much salary. With something on the order of $4.5MM still owed to Harvey for the rest of the season, the New York organization anticipates paying the “vast majority” in hopes of securing “something in return” in a deal.
Reading the tea leaves, then, the Mets aren’t really looking for a MLB asset back that might offset some of the Harvey commitment. It’s possible the team will be able to find another organization willing to give a bit of young talent, but it’ll take deft work for GM Sandy Alderson to achieve significant value.
Harvey, after all, has managed only a 5.93 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in his 212 1/3 innings since the start of the 2016 season. His velocity has continued to trail off as the arm injuries have mounted. As outstanding as he was before a procedure to address thoracic outlet syndrome, Harvey has struggled badly ever since.
Clearly, some front offices around the game still think that Harvey can at least deliver some useful innings from the back of a rotation. Just what they’ll give up to find out remains to be seen.
Please get a catcher
Sandy will be lucky to get a free lunch for Harvey
Probably an A-baller and/or a failed 1st Rounder.
Lol. Caleb Joseph for Matt harvey.
They’d be lucky to get Caleb Joseph for Harvey and his blimp-sized ego lol.
Knowing how the Orioles operate, it’ll be Machado. Straight up.
Hahaha Duquette wouldn’t make it out of town alive.
Done.
Best you can do is extract as much value out of the 4.5 million as you can. Maybe you can get a depth piece or two for that money.
It’s all about leverage. If anybody actually falls for this and gives up something for Harvey I will be confused.
nobody is going to trade for Harvey, all you have to do is wait for 7 days anda get it for the league minimum
But there might be 20 other teams who want him at league minimum. By giving up a bad lottery prospect, you guarentee that you get him
true and once he’s a free agent team will have to bid on him,and not just pay league minimum. League minimum works if only one team wants him, otherwise it could a bidding war which would really make the Mets happy.
Absolutely not terry. Unless he gets more than 4.5 million the mets owed him. there’d be no bidding war. Say some team offered Harvey 1 million. In this scenario the Mets would be on the hook for 3.5 instead of 4.5. Matt Harvey still collects 4.5. Makes no sense to have a bidding war.
But there could be a bidding war IF two or more teams really, truly want him AND they both fear some other team would claim him off waivers before their turn. That’s a big “and” and a really big ‘if,’ I can’t envision much of a war for this guy even in that scenario: it would be closer to a gentle scolding. For example, the Mets are on the hook for 4.5, so if someone like, I don’t know, the Red Sox decides to part with 1 million, MAYBE a team like the Dodgers would counter with 1.1 million. The more likely outcome is a waiver claim by a team like the Reds, followed within minutes by a trade to another team for the minimum plus 100k worth of peanuts.
Exactly
Exactly. Like a free agent auction in reverse. Yankees open the bidding with Ellsbury. Red Sox counter with Panda even though they just own the financial contract, not the player. Eventually he gets traded in the division with Mr. Met for the Philly Fanatic.
The Red Sox can’t trade Sandoval’s contract. Pretty sure MLB doesn’t allow that.
Exactly. Like a trade in reverse. Yankees open the bidding with Ellsbury. Red Sox counter with Panda even though they just own the financial contract, not the player. Eventually he gets traded in the division with Mr. Met for the Philly Fanatic.
I’d expect some team to give up a lottery ticket for him, but I’d be surprised if they got much more. I could see them getting an intriguing but flawed A-ball pitcher, or something along those lines.
Harvey for Gattis? What the hell.
I’d love the Astros to send off Gattis for a lefty better than Tony Sipp (not a tall order). No room for Harvey in this rotation though
All this talk about a garbage pitcher with a near 6 ERA. Why are you giving him so much press on here? He should be included in the Minor transactions story if anything, once a deal actually happens. Which, btw, probably won’t because why would anyone trade for him when they can get him for basically nothing in a few days?
Who pissed in your wheaties? Harvey was a world series pitcher just a few seasons ago. His name draws, I mean you clicked on the article and commented. Minor signings don’t involve the 25 man roster or guys with a high a ceiling as Harvey. Grow up, you don’t control the world or it’s information or what people find interesting.
It’s because he was one of the best pitchers not too long ago. He is an extreme no risk, high reward player. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but there is that ever so slight chance he can become 2015 Harvey
Trade Nick Hundley for Harvey. It would suck to lose hundley but he can be replaced internally, and shedding hundley contract for Harvey will help keep under the tax threshold. Giants might as well get another “declining vet” since this seems to be the year for them, and it’s working! Giants have a top shelf pitching (coaching) staff, and maybe Harvey finds his groove in s an francisco.
I was thinking along those same lines but throwing in Pence and cash to make it so the Giants save around 3 or 4 million or so. This could be the Mets best chance to upgrade at catcher without having to give up talent.
Why the hell would the Mets take Pence? There’s no room for him, not would they take his bad contract.
I dont know which comment is worse.. Dodgethis or yours Joey..
Who internally? Both their AAA catchers are on concussion DL. Hanigan lol? The AA C who cannot hit in AA? Please, at this point Harvey isn’t even worth Hundley & there is no way the cheap Mets are gonna take pences salary lol…..this isn’t a video game folks
I agree Harvey isn’t worth Hundley, but what about dyson? Or another reliever when/if Melancon comes back, remember we got dyson for basically free and he has shows good signs but also is one of our highest paid relievers.
Good lord, fellow Giants fans!
Dismantling a good to excellent bullpen by trading off one of the better relievers in the organisation and one of the better back up catchers in the game is not the way to go.
By all means, sell high on Dyson, but only for a bullpen arm.
By all means, sell high on Hundley, but only for another catcher. Very popular character on the bench. He’s going nowhere.
Hunter Pence has full no trade rights, and is absolutely loved in that clubhouse. He’s going nowhere.
There’s every chance Melancon’s done as a Giant. All the signs are that TJ surgery’s a-coming. He’s only started to throw off 30 yards and that’s to see if there’s still any pain.
I think Harvey might end up in SF (or LA) but only at pro-rata league minimum. Which means waiting for him to get released.
Giants need Dyson, who has proven to be better than Harvey at this very moment. Why would they take part in a swap that considerably weakens the team and doesn’t do much against the luxury tax?
dyson gets paid close to what harvey does and i do like his stuff he has just been somewhat inconsistent in a sf uniform which is what landed him in one, i like dyson and would almost prefer him somewhat to strickland. If cueto is only gone 2 months theres hope, otherwise i felt dyson was one of the most expendable since our bullpen is so strong as opposed to hundley deal from a position with much more depth because losing hundley isnt negotiable really , id rather not see trevor brown or hector sanchez in giants uniforms ever again unless its the spring. i was replying to someones post suggesting hundley go and offered this as a nore attractive option. Again with cueto back im less likely to trade dyson but starting pitching depth for dyson isnt worthless.
Watch them pick up three outfielders and two shortstops.
#NOCATCHER
I talked to a few people that have no insider information. In fact, those people don’t know really anything about baseball; anyway, they think Harvey is getting traded.
Break the pill in half next time.
Yes it was just because you didn’t know that I cannot is a day or tomorrow night or two or whatever.
what?
That’s what I say!
Still say it should be Harvey for Urshela.
He is going to the Mariners.
Mesoraco for Harvey?
Great guess!
Flaherty (Ryan) for Harvey?
Although, I could see the Orioles dropping Tim Beckham already. He’s been in decline with the Orioles and looked sad so far this year. Alvarez doesn’t look any worse at 3B than Beckham…
Flaherty is a braves tho..
wtf would the white sox use him for? they are rebuilding. why give up anything for him?
more interested if the Mets hold a ton of salary and take some useless player at a depth position. Cooper is good at getting the best out of pitchers, even if they hate him for it.
Harvey for big game james
They won’t get anything positive for him. They’ll get an underperformer with a bad contract that desperately needs a change of scenery. Like Harvey.
Might be Devin Mesoraco by that logic
Or Chris Davis…or Mark Trumbo.
Hahahah Davis or Trumbo thank you for the laugh
Bingo!
Trade him for Anthony Weiner, Elliot Spitzer and Schniderman……
You know Brett Favre would want in on that.
Any team willing to take on his salary vs paying him league minimum after he is released Is making a terrible deal and only hurting there team. Dudes a crash wreck and full of himself refusing to be sent down to fix his mechanics. If Mets can pull this off kudos to them while the other team is making a huge mistake knowing he is either traded or becomes a fa
I’ll send you my trainwreck for your dumpster fire. That’s gonna be the gist of this trade.
I propose a trade of the expiring contract of right-hander Matt Harvey to Seattle for the expiring contract of left-handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski.
The Mets are hanging on at 18-15 despite modest production from 34-year-old Jerry Blevins, the only left-hander in their bullpen. Blevins has an ERA of 5.87 in 17 appearances covering only 8.1 innings (although Rzepczynski has an ERA of 8.44 in 12 appearances covering 5.1 innings).
The 29-year-old Harvey is owed $5.63 million in his final year of team control while the 32-year-old Rzepczynski is owed $5.5 million in his final year of team control.
The 19-14 Mariners would retain southpaw James Pazos in the bullpen and could replace the lefty Rzepczynski at a league-minimum salary with Ariel Miranda, Wade LeBlanc or the newly reacquired Roenis Elias.
The Mets could pay Harvey more than $4 million to play elsewhere or make a similar investment to add a veteran left-hander to the bullpen.
If you people think he is going anywhere but the Giants you’re all nuts. Lol
Mike Marjama for Matt Harvey
might need to throw lower level guy too, but Marjama makes sense. Nice guy though he helped my son in the batting cage on the Mariners caravan.
I think it will all depend on the cash going back to the Mariners, since he is already on waivers. If Mets pick up the entire tab I could see Marjama and a low level reliever.
Anything with even a sliver of upside will be “Amazin”.
Mesoraco for Harvey. Devin is a great fit for the Mets, and it’s obvious the Reds could use another arm.
……and it’s our turn to fleece another team.
Mesoraco to the Mets makes sense. Harvey to the reds for 5 months, not so much. The reds would be better off getting a minor leaguer.
Runsey Castillo for Harvey straight up!
This must be a tactic by the Mets to try and get an offer. There is no reason for any team to make a trade to get him. Harvey hasn’t been good for a year and a half, his velocity is down, and he’s in a walk year. All any team needs to do is wait for the waiver period to expire, have the Mets cut him loose and then pick him up for a prorated minimum. You save money and don’t give up anything…
you save more money by having the Mets take all his salary and giving up a player that won’t make the majors.
A trade partner could offer an comparably unattractive contract that could meet a specific need for the Mets.
Think left-handed Seattle reliever Marc Rzepczynski.
I can see the White Sox interest in trading for Matt Harvey if they dealt him for James Shields. Harvey earns about half of the White Sox $10MM 2018 contract obligation and doesn’t possess the $2MM option buyout that Shields has for 2019. Harvey could be the next Don Cooper project. The White Sox also have one of the better medical and training staffs in MLB and if all fails they will only improve their chances for the worst record in baseball and a shot at the #1 pick in next year’s MLB June Draft. Harvey would have about a month to show he has warranted a spot in the White Sox rotation before Carlos Rodon returns from his shoulder rehab and top pitching prospect Michael Kopech’s Super Two cutoff date for 2018 passes.
In Shields, the Mets would also get a more useful piece at the backend of their rotation and a pitcher who has had few injury concerns in his long career. Shields also figures to fare better in the NL while also pitching in a less hitter friendly home park in Queens.
The White Sox also have a couple of young catchers on their 40-man roster with MLB experience that might appeal to the Mets. Lefty hitting Omar Narvaez is the current backup to starter Wellington Castillo while right-handed hitting Kevan Smith is at AAA. Perhaps the Mets would be interested in a separate trade scenario or one with Shields involving either catcher and pick up all of Harvey’s remaining 2018 contract obligation in the process or kick in a prospect back to Chicago to facilitate a deal.
No matter which team the Mets deal with they will have to cave in order to extract something useful in return for Harvey or be faced with letting him walk for nothing and still be responsible for the bulk of his existing contract. As they say, “beggars can’t be choosers” and the Mets are clearly the beggars in any trade scenario involving Harvey.
Probably a dumb question, but can they package him in a trade with another player, and can they trade for more than one player? Or are they stuck having to trade him alone one-on-one?
It can be multi player, multi team. It can be major leaguers or minor. But, whoever gets Harvey only gets him for 5 months and has to have him on the major league roster.
Lucroy
Heliot Ramos for Harvey would be very Giants-like.
how about twins trade ervin santana and jason castro for matt harvey and jay bruce
how about the twins trade with the cubs rangers mets and orioles by sending santana from the twins to the mets for degroom and the orioles send cobb to the twins for phil hughes and the twins sending luke bard and mason melotakis to rangers for matt moore and cole hamels and the cubs sending c gimenez and yu darvish to the twins for minor league felix jorge lamonte wade and jake reed and aaron slegers
If you’re dreaming that much, might as well go for Bryant.
The Reds brass keep saying they are upping their payroll next year we will see so maybe they get an extension with Harvey we need a #4 or #5 guy in rotation.
Since you mentioned it, you also need a #1, a #2, and a #3 guy in the rotation as well.
That only works if Harvey pitches better than he has the past 2 seasons
dyson gets paid close to what harvey does and i do like his stuff he has just been somewhat inconsistent in a sf uniform which is what landed him in one, i like dyson and would almost prefer him somewhat to strickland. If cueto is only gone 2 months theres hope, otherwise i felt dyson was one of the most expendable since our bullpen is so strong as opposed to hundley deal from a position with much more depth because losing hundley isnt negotiable really , id rather not see trevor brown or hector sanchez in giants uniforms ever again unless its the spring. i was replying to someones post suggesting hundley go and offered this as a nore attractive option. Again with cueto back im less likely to trade dyson but starting pitching depth for dyson isnt worthless. u stay almost exactly your current position with luxury tax another tight rope act to increase depth at one position while dealing from a wealth of depth at reliever .
The Dodgers farm is loaded with catchers and they need a fill in starter.
It should only cost Hamlet Marte
Padres need to make a trade here. Let Daren Balsly get his hands on Harvey and see if the can Tyson Ross/Drew Pomeranz him back into a good pitcher.
Petco Park had far more to do with those resurrections than Ballsly.
Petco helps, yes, another reason they should bring him in, but Ballsly does a lot to make these pitchers better, and Pomeranz is still doing well in Boston. You still have to pitch well in Petco Park to take advantage of it,
Well Pomeranz wasn’t really ruined, he just couldn’t hack it in Coors and his confidence was shot. And Ross was more injury than anything. I will agree that park factors are often overrated both for pitchers and hitters. I am a Rockies fan and constantly have to fight off arguments that without Coors Charlie Blackmon couldn’t get a hit on the average beer league softball field or ridiculous arguments like Stanton would hit 100 HRs in Coors. So I do understand that aspect more than I care to at times.
Pomeranz and Ross both came to the Padres from Oakland, and both of them were swingmen/spot starters/failed starters before they got to San Diego. There is a reason Darren Balsly has been there so long, with so many different managers (started in 2003..when Bochy was their manager).
As for Blackmon, he can hit anywhere. Aren’t 10 of his 11 HRs on the road this year?
Yes they are. Thankfully the arguments have been a lot fewer this season.
I’ll give Ballsy credit for Ross, but Pomeranz was in Oakland for two seasons. He got fixed there. And there was no fixing to it other than he couldn’t handle Coors. Watch some interviews from his time as a Rockie. His psyche was broken and even then he still showed some signs of his potential. The only real difference during his time with the Padres is that they were bad enough in the rotation to offer him a chance as a starter whereas Oakland was not.
Worried the Brewers might be involved now that the Mets are saying ‘catcher’. Pina, Nottingham, Bandy, Betancourt… and even Vogt even though injured. Pina and Nottingham wouldn’t be included but I could say any of the other 3 as fair game.
There we go Bandy for Harvey do it now please. But im sure they will end up going Harvey for Susac in Baltimore
That’d be an amazing deal for the Mets. Susac has been fantastic in Triple-A. Only problem is that it would have to be as a PTBNL as he’s on the DL.
The only catcher the Mets should be able to get for Harvey is Devin Mesoraco
They’d have to eat the vast majority of both contracts or add a fringe-ish prospect probably to make that work, but I could definitely see it happening.
Yankees go get him KYLE HIGASHIOKA and another prospect
See 13 hours ago. Stratcrowder comment.
twins trade hughes and lamonte wade for harvey