9:53pm: The club has indeed signed Harvey, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Harvey will report to Triple-A Las Vegas.
9:17pm: The Athletics are closing in on a contract with free-agent right-hander Matt Harvey, according to Roster Roundup. It’ll be a minor league pact, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets.
An agreement with the A’s means Harvey will continue in the American League West, where he pitched for the Angels this season before they released him three weeks ago. The former Mets star, 30, was among the Angels’ most notable signings last winter, when they handed him an $11MM guarantee. But the Halos’ version of Harvey performed like one of the worst starters in baseball, which forced the team to drop him.
After reviving his career to some extent as a member of the Reds late last season, Harvey opened this year with a ghastly 7.09 ERA/6.35 FIP with 5.88 K/9 and 4.37 BB/9 across 59 2/3 innings and 12 starts. As you’d expect, he ranked near the bottom of the league in all of those categories. In the process, Harvey yielded home runs on a personal-worst 22.4 percent of fly balls, recorded the lowest average four-seam fastball velocity of his time in the majors (93.2 mph) and posted the second-weakest swinging-strike rate of his career (9.1). Hitters teed off on Harvey for a .372 weighted on-base average along the way, but according to Statcast’s expected wOBA metric (.390), he actually deserved worse.
Needless to say, this has been a nightmarish campaign for Harvey. There’s little harm in the A’s taking a flier on him on a minors pact, though, especially considering the success they’ve recently had bringing in castoff starters on low-cost deals (Edwin Jackson, Brett Anderson and Trevor Cahill spring to mind). And Harvey’s now back in the same organization as A’s executive Sandy Alderson, who was New York’s general manager during the hurler’s tenure there.
Having dealt with significant injuries to Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo, A.J. Puk, Marco Estrada and Jharel Cotton – not to mention an 80-game suspension to emergent ace Frankie Montas – Oakland has been forced to make do with a patchwork rotation for the second straight year. The club somehow won 97 games and earned a wild-card berth last season, though, and has weathered its issues in 2019 to log a 68-52 record.
Currently two games back of a wild-card spot, the Athletics have been aggressive in trying to upgrade their starting staff over the past few weeks. Prior to last month’s trade deadline, they acquired Tanner Roark from the Reds and Homer Bailey from the Royals. Those two are now part of a rotation that also includes Anderson, Mike Fiers and Chris Bassitt, while Manaea, Luzardo and perhaps even Harvey are among those who could also factor into the mix in the coming weeks.
Lol
“Matt Harvey will report to Triple-A Las Vegas”.
Harvey in Las Vegas, what could go wrong?
lol
There welcome to him, what a waste of money.
So much money……dork
It’s not like they are shelling out an obscene $11 million like the Angels did in the offseason. It’s a minor league deal lol.
He likely will get the prorated $300K league minimum. That’s nothing.
With a 7.09 ERA!
Best place for him
Seems like they are always reclamation projects succeeding in that ballpark
Lol
Why hasn’t anyone tried using him as a reliever? Does anyone know?
He threw a fit. Pretty sure that was last year
He’s a diva who wouldn’t accept the role.
Since his daddy, who use to coach him, told little Matt that he was the greatest pitcher ever, Matt has never accepted anything that says he’s not the greatest pitcher ever. Complete Daddy Ball creation, with the expected results when he faced adversity (like facing MLB players that figured him out after short term success).
At least he has all those rings when he and the greatest pitching staff ever of Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, and Wheeler led that Mets dynasty to more championships than any other pitching staff did in MLB history. If he hadn’t done that, he would be another Mets overrated prospect bust for the ongoing joke about that franchise.
🙂
He should’ve begged Houston to take him
Well ig if we want to make another Moneyball year of 2019, sure…
400 IP tell you he is not better than your 5th or fill-in AAA pitcher.
No!!! Oakland, what are you doing???!!!! I thought you wanted to make the playoffs??!!
Sky falling because of minor league signing?
Might pay off
Har-vey’s Bet-ter!
Cornering the market on pitchers with the highest ERA’s.
That seems silly as there are only 3 teams in the AL who are better at preventing runs than the A’s.
To be fair, he said they corner the market on guys who suck (which is kind of true) – he just left off the part where they make them extremely useful again
No wonder thousands of seats are empty every night in stadiums across the league.
Alright! Another team bites the dust!
Could be a nice addition to the September callups
Harvey is like a drug. You just can’t help taking it.
Also, too much usage can cause permanent damage.
That guys a beast!
Is this Ed Harvey? If so, Mr. Harvey, your son is not as good as you made him think he is with all of that Daddy Ball garbage. His nickname is the “Dark Knight” because he provides his supporters with many dark nights. You should’ve made him learn the concept of humility and earning your keep instead of all of this Daddy Ball entitlement stuff. He would have been able to live up to his potential and would’ve been able to handle adversity better.
Most of the comments solidify my suspicion that nobody actually watches the A’s.
possibly the least upside any pro sports player hae
Like most Mets prospects. All the hype – none of the performance to match. Or, he brings all the noise, but it signifies nothing.
He was absolutely great until his TOS surgery. Even was great after Tommy John surgery. Saying he was all hype no performance when his career was derailed by injuries.
Tim Tebow says hi
Minor league deal to see if they can quickly adjust his poor results? Can’t go wrong; there is literally no downside in taking a look since we are paying his bill.
And unlike the Angels, the A’s know what they are doing and have a very long track record of benefiting from guys like this. Will be quite humiliating if they do it again
Gonna need to hire an oncologist while they’re at it.
He will end up with an era in the low 2’s, rediscover his fastball, stop giving up homeruns, and magically be a productive pitcher again. The reverse trevor cahill
Wait, but we did that with Trevor Cahill last year too.
hope the Angels light him up. – from an Angels fan.
The Dark Knight in Sin City. I’d go to that show.
Total A’s move. Cost them nothing.
Followed total Angels move: pay a declining vet huge money to get worse.
The Dark Knight rises!
Really he just sucks now.
Modern day Jack Armstrong.
That statement is so illogical. Armstrong and Harvey have almost nothing in common at all, in any way.
Uh, yes they do. Take off your Mets Goggles and you’ll see.
Calling out an absoluetly ridiculous comment from a clearly obsessed fan of a rival club doesnt mean I have “Mets goggles” – the fact you think that shows how emotionally triggered you are, however.
As far as a comparison of the two;
Harvey’s best 3 season stretch
65 G, 427 IP, 2.65 ERA, 2.53 FIP, 9.46 K/9, 1.98 BB/9
Armstrong’s best 3 season
65 G, 347 IP, 4.39 ERA, 4.20 FIP, 5.8 K/9, 3.6 BB/9
So other than the fact Harvey went deeper in games, gave up nearly 2 fewer runs per 9, had a K rate approaching double and walked almost half as many …well other than that stuff you mean?
They were both RH starters though, so maybe that’s the sole criteria that led you to your conclusion?
Harvey in Vegas? You’ll never get him out of there. He’s home now. Think of an athletic version of Nicholas Cage… good luck
Minimal to no risk for the A’s and a shot at redemption for him. A win-win in my book. The Dark Knight Rises…Again!
Replaced an org filler we just released, too. Chances he gets called up? Not high. Depth is nice, though.
I’m sure Harvey had minor league offers weeks ago. Probably took him this long to swallow his pride and realize no team would give him a major league deal.
I get taking a chance on someone, but this dude is done.
Honestly, other than that short term success, when was he ever really good that matched the hype that the NY media used for him along with the rest of that overrated Mets pitching staff that they had? This guy is just one of hundreds of thousands in MLB history that had short term success that could not be sustained. Just another Jack Armstrong and many others like him. His legacy will be making it onto the Mets All-time Prospect Busts team, right next to “Generation K”, etc.
He was great. After that season where he blew past his innings limit following surgery he was never the same. He might be a gigantic tool but he was a legitimately great SP for his first 3 seasons. You have to put your clear personal feelings aside and accept that fact. Dude was really good. Hasn’t been in a long time though.
Again, just another guy in MLB history that had short term success. that was not able to sustain it for one reason or other. There are hundreds to about a thousand guys like Harvey in MLB history.
He was pretty great for 7 minutes
Exactly! And see below with the Mets fans arguing against this. Mets fans…the stupidity that unifies Marlins, Nats, Phillies, and Braves fans because they always give us something to collectively laugh at! LOL!
The A’s live on helping players rediscover that short term success for their benefit, then let them go elsewhere and watch as they fall apart. That’s usually how it happens. Cahill and Lowrie this year, for example. A’s fans were pissed they didn’t get re-signed. I want to say they’ll never question the organization’s decisions again, but they will.
Who is calling Matt Harvey the greatest pitcher who ever lived? He started his career as a great pitcher. Injury derailed him. You’re the one running Around hating on the man. No one is praising him like he was Jesus Christ over here. But you can’t sit here and tell me he was never a good pitcher. That’s completely false and extremely biased.
Quite possibly the biggest A-hole I have ever met. Karma is a B Matt, Happy trails!
I watched most of Matt Harvey’s starts with the Mets. They were ‘can’t miss’ events. He had an electric fastball with late movement that generated more swings and misses than any pitcher not named Nolan Ryan in my lifetime. His slider was even nastier and appeared to dive bomb, off a shelf. The Mets / Royals game 5 in the 2015 WS (available in YouTube) is the last time Harvey showed some of that form. The Mets knew they were playing with fire (and endangering his career) when they pushed him beyond the medically imposed innings limit coming off TJ surgery in the drive towards the WS. He was never the same and the final surgery diminished him even further. Harvey still has velocity, but lost the movement on his pitches which are flat and very hittable. His ‘take no prisoners’ attitude swiftly lost its ‘Dark Knight’ era appeal. I credit the Mets front office with cutting ties when they did as he had become a distraction to the team. Fortunately for Matt Harvey, the money earned from the Angels contract alone, invested wisely, will provide him a comfortable life for his remaining years…
Clearly you must only watch Mets games to say “…generated more swings and misses than any pitcher not named Nolan Ryan in my lifetime.” There were pitchers in your own division doing better than him – ahem, Stephen Strasburg and Jose Fernandez. But they played for division rivals, so you clearly didn’t see them play, right? Never saw JR Richards, Justin Verlander, Roger Clemens, your own Dwight Gooden, Mark Langston, Randy Johnson, etc. etc. etc.
Yeah, clearly you only watch Mets games if Matt Harvey is the only guy that you saw that “…generated more swings and misses than any pitcher not named Nolan Ryan in my lifetime.”
Why are you so obsessed with him? Its at an almost frightening level, and the extreme personal grudge you display makes it rather pointless for people to even read your posts, in all honesty
Is it obsessed or me stating facts about the guy? Mets fans know this comes every single time you overhype a guy and he falls flat on his face. Marlins, Braves, Nats, and Phillies fans are gonna call it out.
So I guess when you can’t argue the facts, you resort to calling someone obsessed.
You haven’t provided any facts, you’ve merely given your emotions – emotions that clearly spiral out of control upon seeing/hearing Harvey’s name
As far as him supposedly being over hyped?
2012-2015 FIP leader board (min 400 IP)
2.07 – Kershaw
2.65 – Harvey
2.80 – Wainwright
2.89 – Scherzer
2.89 – Cole
2.90 – Price
2.81 – Felix Hernandez
2.96 – Kluber
2.95 – Sale
2.96 – Strasburg
Yes, I can’t possibly imagine why anyone was ever impressed with the pre-injury Harvey.
So sorry that facts trigger you, but Harvey was amazing before the injury
Yeah, because one stat – a theoretically formulized analytical one at that – is all that matters. Toss out the rest because they don’t make your argument. And Harvey only pitched 10 games in 2012. And you stick with 400 innings over 3 years. That’s laughable that you would use this.
Go wear your Dark Knight t-shirt and enjoy.
400 innings of greatness!
Like I said, he’s just another one of about 1000 pitchers in MLB history with short term success. He’s nothing more.
You Mets fans wonder why Marlins, Nats, Phillies, and Braves fans laugh at your fan base? It’s stuff like this!
Since you apparently have no idea what it is and why it’s used, FIP is used to counteract levk and things like the AL having a DH. Still not quick enough to grasp the number though? Fine…
Again 12-15, 400 IP
2.07 – Kershaw
2.53 – Harvey
2.61 – Greinke
2.80 – Cueto
2.90 – Gray
2.90 – Price
2.91 – Felix
2.95 – Sale
3.01 – Wainwright
…so same exact results for him.
So I seriously suggest you stop, all you are doing is embarrassing yourself.
He was already proving himself one of the games best pitchers, he got hurt, and he has never come back from injury. Everyone knows that; it’s extremely well documented. That you can’t come to grips with it is 100% your emotional defect, and nothing more – and that wont change no matter how much obsessive ranting you do
Seriously, let’s not stop. We’ll see who is embarrassing themselves. Us Marlins, Nats, Phillies, and Braves fans want you to keep going with breaking down how Harvey’s 400 innings of greatness proves that he isn’t one of about 1000 pitchers in MLB history who had short term success. Please continue. We want you to. Harvey is special, unlike the about 1000 other pitchers like him in MLB history that had short term success. His 400 innings of greatness was one of the greatest feats ever. There should be a place in Cooperstown for his 400 innings of greatness because it was so great that it proves that he isn’t like the other 1000 or so pitchers in MLB history with short term success.
Keep ’em coming!
Also, when you can, since I’m sure you can also do this too, come up with the theoretically formulized analytical stats that tell us that the great pitching staff of Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard, Matz, and Wheeler really are the best ever put together, and that every year they were together, the Mets were really the best team in baseball and really had the stats that warrants them being considered the World Series Champions.
I know that you can do this because if 400 innings of greatness proves that a guy wasn’t a short term success like about 1000 other pitchers in MLB history, I’m sure you can point out how performance on the field doesn’t matter, and that the Mets really have been baseball’s champion for a number of years.
You know what interesting and further laughable in this. Using FIP to argue a man’s swing-miss stuff. Someone needs to know what certain stats are before using them. Bill James is embarrassed.
Mets fans. Best comedy on Broadway!
First off, why do you keep lumping yourself in with Braves, Nats and Phillies fans? None of those organizations take you seriously in any way
Second, why do you keep saying I’m a Mets fan – I’m anything but and have given nothing which would lead anyone to believe I am. That baseless assumption is merely one of the many things which shows how desperately obsessed and emotionally unstable you truly are
Third, I’m not going to bother to read any of the rest of that emotional tirade past the first couple sentences, it seems you’ve gone full loon. Instead, I’ll just again show how foolish your insistence Harvey was over rated is – in a more personal way for you
First four years of two pitchers
2.58 ERA, 4.60 K/BB, 471 IP (6.2 IP/Start)
2.53 ERA, 4.78 K/BB, 427 IP (6.6 IP/Start)
One is Harvey pre-injury, one is Jose Fernandez pre-death
So unless your stance is Fernandez was merely a vastly over hyped dime a dozen bad pitcher that is easy to replace…
Again, I suggest you just give it a rest. You’re doing nothing buy embarrassing yourself here
I’ve shown you Harvey had the 2nd best ERA, 2nd best FIP, is basically identical to Fernandez and was about two times better than Armstrong (despite you claiming they were the same) …meanwhile you’ve still given nothing but your emotional temper-tantrum
OK, OK, I will give Matt Harvey his just desserts. I will enshrine him in his rightful place. Here I go with placing him in his immortal spot, worthy of his legacy:
QB – Tim Tebow
C – Steve Chilcott
1B – Ike Davis
2B – Kaz Matsui
SS – Tim Foli
3B – Gregg Jefferies
OF – Lastings Milledge, Shawn Abner, Fernando Martinez
SPs – Matt Harvey, Paul Wilson, Bill Pulsipher, David West, Mike Pelfrey
RP – Doug Sisk, Aaron Heilman
Yes, this seems about right to honor the legendary Matt Harvey!
Again, your emotional obsession is just unreal. You seem to by have an extreme inferiority complex going on
Also still here waiting for something, anything resembling an actual fact though. Or to be honest, even a point at this point – all I’ve gotten so far is that you’re obsessed and triggered so are frantically lashing out in a childish way.
Harvey is one if a handful of pitchers in the history of the game to have TOS; an injury notorious for destroying pitchers careers. Prior to that he was undeniably showing himself as one of the best young pitchers in the game – and you are so emotionally triggered and obsessed you just can not admit that very, very simple reality. It’s extremely pitiful, and quite embarrassing.
For someone who “isn’t a Mets fan”, you sure are locked into defending Harvey. The only people on the planet who defend Harvey at this point are Metss fans trying defend instead of admit that they were wrong (again); anyone from New London Connecticut, or his family.
I can argue this all day with any angle, and you’ll still argue, so no point in wasting my time.
Fact: the guy had short term success…like about 1000 other pitchers in MLB history.who did the same and fell apart. 400 innings of success is short term success.
Fact: he is not the best arm since Nolan Ryan. That’s just laughable on so many levels.
But do keep arguing. And do keep claiming that you’re not a Mets fan. Unless you want to say you’re a family member of his. Or maybe you’re him. Nobody else on the planet would be so dedicated to defending the guy, are arguing for either of these dumb ash statements. At least I’m a fan of a rival team in my bash of him.
But do keep arguing that 400 innings is not short term success…and do keep trying to argue that he’s got the best swing-miss stuff since Nolan Ryan. Yeah, nothing stupid about that. That’s something his daddy told him – nobody else.
We’ll do this one more time;
#3 prospect prior to 2013
2013-16: 2.58 ERA, 4.60 K/BB, 471 IP (6.2 IP/Start)
– Talent stopped by death (one of 99 such deaths)
#54 prospect prior to 2012
2012-15: 2.53 ERA, 4.78 K/BB, 427 IP (6.6 IP/Start)
Post Season: 3.03 ERA, 3.38 K/BB, 26.2 IP (6.67 IP/Start)
– Talent stopped by Thoratic Outlet Syndrome (one of just 27 such injuries)
…so was Jose Fernandez just way over hyped, or was Matt Harvey way under hyped?
The two had identical careers before the freak talent ending situation they faced – but only Fernandez had the extreme prospect hype (50 places ahead of Harvey) prior to taking a ML field. So honestly, was Fernandez overhyped or Harvey just underhyped?
I could honestly care less about any of this, by the way. But the fact you have provided zero actual facts (make up a bunch of nonsense, but had zero facts) yet have ranted obsessively with nothing but your emotions in this article is fascinating, pitiful, and honestly kind of fun to see if you’d seriously keep doing it no matter how many times you are proven to be a bufoon. So far you just keep coming back over and over again to prove how you have no facts at all but are still absolutely obsessed with Harvey for unknown reasons.
FIP literally uses K’s in the calculation so I’m not sure why it’s funny to talk about Harvey’s FIP and swing and miss stuff. Pretty easy connection to make there. Harvey was by most accounts a complete asss but this is just extreme. I don’t get the 20 post rant about how much of a flash in the pan he was. He was a great pitcher. Unfortunately he was derailed by an injury. An injury that’s nearly derailed every pitcher who sustained it. TOS isn’t TJ.
the As don’t have a minor league bullpen pitcher they can promote for a couple bucks a month ? MLB and the millions of $$ tossed around for less than mediocrity has fully ruined the game.
Harvey likely never pitches for the A’s in the big leagues, and if he does then something has gone horribly wrong. This was for depth, maybe to lengthen the rotation in September if he gets a 40 man spot, but he isn’t even the third option the A’s will have in the rotation in case of injury.
Sean Manaea, Jesus Luzardo, and even Marco Estrada are closer to helping the A’s starting staff than Matt Harvey. I doubt he so much as sniffs an A’s uniform.
Wow the wheels really fell off for Harvey.
Welp, as good as Harvey was for the Mets, he was awful for the Angels. I’ll be surprised if he survives Triple A based on how he pitched for us. Kinda reminded me of when we gave Lincecum an opportunity a couple years ago. Some guys can’t come back after a major injury. I think Harvey falls into that class. At this point he should gratefully accept any role they offer him. He needs to realize his career as a major league starter is over.
Amazingly, the way Harvey has pitched since TOS is actually a bit of a success story for the surgery overall. Most guys dont pitch or are gone the following season or two.
TOS is truly a career killer. Harvey is trying to swim upstream, but he’s got a tall order regardless of the role.
I admire his commitment, but it hasn’t translated to success at the major league level.
Its time to give the Angel scouting and coaching staff some credit for this years free agent pitching free agent signings – Cahill, Harvey & Allen.
A’s must be in worse shape than I thought ……. Matt Harvey? OOOOOPPPPPSSSSSSSSS! Hope it goes well for the A’s