Today marks the opt-out date in Matt Harvey’s minor league contract with the Athletics, though the right-hander is going to remain in the organization, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Harvey could be changing roles, however, as the A’s have asked him to make some Triple-A relief appearances. The longtime starter is open to the idea, replaying he is “gonna give it the shot” in a text message to the Chronicle.
After an ugly 12-start stint with the Angels that resulted in a 7.09 ERA over 59 2/3 innings, Harvey was released in late July and then caught on with Oakland two weeks ago. After two solid outings for Triple-A Las Vegas, Harvey’s third start in the A’s organization wasn’t as sharp, giving him an overall 3.60 ERA, 4.50 K/BB rate, and 10.8 K/9 over 15 total innings for Las Vegas.
Harvey has started 140 of his 145 career Major League games, with four of those bullpen outings coming last season after he lost his rotation job with the Mets. It’s worth noting that when the Angels released Harvey, manager Brad Ausmus said the team didn’t explore using Harvey as a reliever since the team “didn’t think he’d take well to the role” (as per Maria Torres of the L.A. Times), which is perhaps telling given that the Angels have themselves been looking for relief help this season.
A move to the pen, however, might simply have been inevitable for a pitcher who simply hasn’t performed well since undergoing thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2016. Harvey has a 5.89 ERA over 307 1/3 innings since the start of the 2017 campaign, with only a 6.9 K/9 and an ungainly 1.8 HR/9. Slusser noted two days ago that Harvey was hoping to make a late-season rebound in Oakland’s rotation to help his free agent case this winter, and while Harvey could still market himself to starter-needy teams down the road, relief pitching is a relatively pragmatic short-term decision.
After all, Harvey could get himself a quicker path back to the big leagues as a reliever, given how the A’s have been short on reliable right-handed bullpen depth this season. If he acclimates well to a relief role, Harvey could even wind up pitching some important September innings for a team in the midst of a pennant race. Having a proven capability to work as a reliever would help Harvey in landing a Major League contract for next season, possibly as a full-time reliever or perhaps a swingman, whereas he would almost surely have to settle for another minors contract if he stuck with starting pitching.
Can’t be much worse then what we are working with currently
id take Wang 7 days of the week and twice on Sundays before giving Harvey a shot.
Why? He had 2 good outings, then went downhill fast. There’s a reason why he’s not on the big-league club. If Harvey can put things back on track, it would be a great find for a team that’s searching for relief help.
thats a big “if,” and one that’s hard to do with only a month left in the season and the team still fighting for a wild card spot.
Mets fan here. Harvey’ is shot… hes a dumpster fire and. A diva at that, what’s worse is he still thinks hes good
I don’t think you’ve actually seen Wang pitch. Dude was getting hit hard and had major control issues towards the end of his run with the big league club. Much rather give Harvey a shot.
No way, Harvey in relief might actually be elite. Don’t forget starters have to use more pitches and keep stuff in the tank so they cant go all-out. Harvey going all out might be worth a look and is definitely better than Wang
the same thing said every year about Harvey. he tried relieving with NYM and it didnt work. no reason he should be given the benfit of the doubt even if its in another role now.
He had 4 relief appearances.
You’d take wang 7 days a week? Lol. Sorry, yes I’m juvenile.
Slow clap
See, I get it that the bullpen hasn’t been as good as most of us were expecting it to be, but this is also what we wanted. We wanted the back end of Treinen and Trivino with Buchter and Petit to fill the middle innings, and I saw lots of groaning when suggestions of trading those 4 were brought up. Hendriks has been lights out this year, which is pretty much where he was up to the Wild Card game last year.
This year they went out and got the left handed reliever we wanted them to get last year in Diekman and they brought up Puk. The front office has made all the moves A’s fans have been wanting and expecting them to make, and it hasn’t gone as expected.
Baseball is very hard sport to predict. Anyone that says, “I saw Treinen, Trivino and Buchter all being cheeks this year, they should have traded them last year when their values were at their highest,” is lying to themselves.
I keep holding out hope Trivino and Treinen will figure it out, because if they do, watch out opposing teams.
We can hope they figure it out this year, but if not there’s always next year. I doubt they trade Treinen now that his value has absolutely cratered, and Trivino still has options and 5 years of control so they’ll give him a leash or send him down to Triple A to figure it out if they have to.
Turn down for what?!
Probably a smart move for him. Plenty of examples of hurlers reinventing themselves as a RP, and the A’s relievers have not been consistent at all. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a Sept call up.
Hes stubborn and a diva. If he recognizes ok I suck I’m not the star i used to be let me humble myself and work hard maybe he would turn into a good reliever
The A’s have essentially bought a lottery ticket for a dollar. Maybe we hit the lotto, more likely than not we end up tossing it in the trash. Re Harvey as a diva, hopefully he gets it that he’s no longer worthy of “diva status” and recognizes that this might be his last real shot to continue his career at an MLB-level.
Think there is a typo in the title. Should read:
“Will try pitching”
Regardless of what inning he is throwing, the guy is just not right. Good on him and A’s for trying something different but I’ll be shocked if the results aren’t exactly the same.
anyone remember a guy named Dennis Eckersley?
Good call, wasn’t Eck really hated by the fans in 86/87 too? I remember he said he got sober round that time and had a bad rep.
also a dang good closer and eventual hall of famer. Mentioning Harvey in any context with Eck is an insult to the latter.
Only bc of David Price, lol.
Smoltz.
Mariano Rivera
Took him long enough.
Looks like reality is starting to set in for Harvey.
Harvey to his agent: “Hey, nose around and find out where I can hook up with somebody as a starter in the majors, would you?”
Harvey t0 the world the next day: “I’m willing to try pitching in relief.”
maybe he can become a Jason Isringhausen type
At least he’s finally accepted it as his best bet. I seem to remember he refused to be a reliever in the past???
I’m still staggered by how much people hate Matt Harvey. What did he do to you personally?