Right-hander Matt Harvey underwent knee surgery last month, agent Scott Boras tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post. It isn’t clear whether the procedure is expected to affect his readiness for Spring Training, but Boras tells Sherman that Harvey plans to attempt to make it back to the majors next year.
The 2022 campaign was the first since 2014 in which Harvey didn’t pitch in the majors. He missed the ’14 campaign rehabbing from Tommy John surgery but had otherwise been a fairly frequent presence in the big leagues since his 2012 debut. After a few ace-level performances through 2015, he’s consistently struggled. Harvey has settled into journeyman territory, pitching for five different teams and posting a combined 6.00 ERA in 354 innings since the start of the 2018 season.
Over the offseason, Harvey testified to providing former teammate Tyler Skaggs with Percocet in the trial against former Angels communications director Eric Kay. Kay was convicted of providing Skaggs with the drugs that led to his death, while Harvey was granted immunity from criminal prosecution for his testimony. That raised the possibility of an MLB-levied suspension for drug distribution. The Orioles re-signed him to a minor league contract in April, and Harvey was suspended for 60 games in mid-May.
After serving that ban, Harvey reported to Baltimore’s top affiliate in Norfolk. He started 10 games for the Tides, putting up a 4.31 ERA through 54 1/3 innings. That decent run prevention was in spite of a modest 18.5% strikeout rate and an untenable 2.32 home runs allowed per nine innings. Harvey didn’t pitch after September 8, presumably on account of the knee issue, and didn’t appear in the majors.
The 33-year-old (34 in March) will hit the open market again this offseason. It remains to be seen whether he’ll land another minor league contract with a big league club.
He still chugging.
This drug pedaling P.O.S. should be banned from baseball!!!
Way to demonize addiction. More than 10% of people prescribed opioids become addicted to them over time according to the Mayo Clinic. Addicts enable other addicts.
I deal with addicts every day at my job. I understand addiction, and certainly am not demonizing addiction.
Harvey admitting he provided opioids to Skaggs that weren’t prescribed to Skaggs is admitting to not only violating MLB drug policy, but admitting to committing a crime. A lifetime ban should be the least that happens to Harvey. For MLB to not ban him is to condone the same behavior from other players in the future. It’s called accepting the consequences for your own actions and decisions. Whether you’re an addict or not, you still have to be held accountable.
First can you show me the legal documents that Harvey was convicted? I only see he was granted immunity from it and therefore was not charged and therefore there is no crime. Just like If you get pulled over for speeding (which is also a crime just not as severe) and admit you were speeding to the cop and they decide not to give you a ticket (charge you) should your company suspend you from work or punish you in anyway?
In the end i dont condone what he did but he did not get convicted of a crime and should not be punished for it. MLB does have a conduct policy for drugs (that was agreed upon by both MLB and MLBPA) which he admitted to using and distributing and he was levied that punishment as a first time offender. If you do not agree with that policy your fight is with the mlb and mlbpa.
Also if you dont think these guys are doing/using illegal stuff you are kidding yourself. They dont even test all the players, they are only subject to testing. If testing were mandatory on a regular say weekly / monthly basis half the league would have earned lifetime bans by your rules.
“…therefore there is no crime”. A crime is a punishable act. There doesn’t necessarily need to be a conviction to have a crime.
if there is no conviction / due process at best it is a potential offense … if there is enough evidence you can then consider it an indictment and once convicted it is a crime.
MLB can suspend without a conviction per the agreement with the player’s union.
Smooth brain idiots? Brilliant.
You’re wrong, just stop. “Crime is behavior, either by act or omission, defined by statutory or common law as deserving of punishment or penalty. “
What’s wrong with demonizing drug dealers?
What does being “convicted of a crime” have to do with anything?
The poster said he should be banned from baseball… he never said he should be thrown in jail…
Hardly any players who get suspended by the league ever get convicted for a crime, how many players get in trouble for domestic assault/abuse without ever being convicted? Trever Bauer received a much stiffer penalty because he slept with a woman who liked rough intercourse, Pete Rose and Joe Jackson received lifetime bans without conviction. Even the drug policy for which you mention requires zero criminal conviction.
Be has no problem taking the money, knowing full well he wasn’t giving his best effort.
Ask a pharmacist. 😉
> therefore was not charged and therefore there is no crime
That is a ridiculous statement.
1) Witnesses to crimes don’t get immunity. Participants in crimes get immunity (if their testimony is needed)
2) Harvey testified in court under oath to committing crimes
3) If a person is murdered, that is a crime. By your illogic, if no one is charged with that murder, then the crime did not happen
Yes, you’re so noble and pure.
Is it hard for you to breathe with your head in the sand hiding from the real world?
Are you always so self righteous? He did a bad thing, we get it. Screaming he’s a POS and should be banned…hopefully you never do anything wrong and need a second chance.
Agree
lot of drug apologists here.
I’m all for demonizing Dealers. Just not the addicts they take advantage of. I spent many years addicted to alcohol and opioids, I’m just glad I made it out alive and sane.
Glad he hopes to pitch next year. I also hope to pitch in 2023. Good luck
I wanna marry Karen Gillan. Let’s see who meets their goal first.
She does look hot when she does that Nebula role.
More of a fan of her natural look in Jumanji but to each his own I guess…
Uh, I guess you don’t realize that in Jumanji, she had almost as much make-up as she does in the Marvel movies.
But she is indeed pretty.
Ah yeah cheers mate I had no idea an actress wore makeup in a movie. It’s not like she looks like she usually does in Jumanji and looks unnatural in a movie where she plays a bald blue CGI robot or anything
Idiot
I pretty much only know her from Doctor Who. But yea.
@FletcherFan69
You’re getting too worked up over this. We all agree that she’s hot…whether she’s in make-up to enhance her normal look or in make-up and a shaved head to be a blue robot sociopathic alien.
I have to look her up, man I feel old. Google to the rescue, for educational purposes only.
Good luck to Harvey and hope he got the help he needed.
One hundred percent agree. People who hate him because of the drugs should consider the fact that he was a very impressionable young man with way too much money, which often doesn’t end well. He’s clearly a much different person now, and I hope to see him again in the majors.
Harvey was 30 with the Angels, not 20. If you can’t trust a 30 year old to not act like Harvey did than all bets are off.
Darkside: While that is true, he still had a lot of money at a young age and likely got addicted when he was younger
Pretty sure the behavior he’s referring to is giving drugs to other people, not being an addict.
I had a sixty-ish year old uncle who was prescribed oxy after getting his knees replaced… dude went off the rails both mentally and with his addiction.
No human being should ever be prescribed oxy and the fact that medical professionals still do is disgusting. It’s also disgusting that certain states still ban the use of thc for medical purposes.
yes. don’t totally blame him for the addiction (and that’s a personal issue anyway). dude did not need to be giving other people.drugs though.
You hope that he gets help, but addiction is a lifetime problem that he will always need to battle.
Sadly, most addicts continue to relapse. As a human being, I hope he’s alright so I can be a fan that bashes him on the field.
You’re certainly right. It starts with yourself wanting to change and doing what’s necessary to actually change.
Boras is desperate. Wonder why? No one is going to give this bum a job again.
Boras is never ever desperate. He is the greatest person involved in pro sports labor and smooth brain idiots eat up the anti-union propaganda like candy. Pathetic.
Someone will give him a minor league invite (possibly the Orioles again)
Another savvy move by Elias and company. With Harvey in the system, O’s set a precedent that they are willing to give someone a second chance. And done cheaply. Mission accomplished. The Trever Bauer’s of the world and their agents appreciate that. Also, a pathway to competitively negotiate faithly with Boras clients.
Why is everyone taking shots about Harvey wanting to pitch in the Majors next year being unrealistic?
Amazon, Wal-Mart, Starbucks McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, EBay, Taco Bell, etc. are Major caliber businesses who pay decent money for their softball teams.
Hope this slimeball never pitches again.
I get people hate him for the Skaggs ordeal. He did his suspension. He also helped nail the guy that was responsible for giving him the opioid. Now if someone wants to give him a second chance that’s their choice especially if he is clean. Heck Steve Howe got 7 chances.
Maybe giving him a chance is not a good idea when you consider the endings for Howe and other MLB addicted players of Howe’s era.
One of the biggest enemies of addicts is enabling.
Howe should have never have been given that many chances either. But MLB didn’t have any real. drug policy back then, they just closed their eyes.
I don’t hate him for being a drug addict. I’m not judging him for it. But he’s just not a good pitcher anymore.
Issues off the field aside, he hasn’t been an effective pitcher since 2015. It might be time to consider other job opportunities.
I honestly think the Dark knight needs to go to KBO to re-establish any true MLB value. He hasn’t been a force for over 5 years and proving ones mettle over seas works sometimes. I’m honestly hoping the Mariners throw Jose Pirela a life line come December. Dudes been ballin in KBO.
Recovery from surgery with his addiction issues is going to be tough….
Hard to believe, Harvey threw 240 innings in 2015, including playoffs.
After throwing none the previous season. He was never the same again. Things might have turned out differently if the Mets had adhered to his recommended innings limit.
Just what this guy needs.. another surgery… know what comes with surgery? Opioids. He needs nothing that’s going to lead him to even considering using those anymore.
So many experts on addiction here. Such expertise and erudition.
I, too, can use sarcasm and fancy words like “erudition” to try and prove how much smarter I am than everyone else in the room.
Indubitably!
Your punctuation is incorrect. Erudition: bet you had to look that up
Glass houses.
Shrek: Like that’s ever gonna happen! *flush*
some BODY ONCE TOLD ME
He will never be a MLB level pitcher ever again. Give a job to someone who actually deserves it.
It’s one thing if he’d been really effective in the years leading up to this, but that’s been anything but the case. Time for other pursuits.
Very bad and washed up players who block other younger players from success does absolutely nothing for this game and teams should stop bringing on washups *cough*A’s*cough*
Combined his lack of productivity and the Skaggs situation, it’s very difficult to imagine anyone giving him another shot at the MLB. At 34 years old he is what he is, no longer can clubs bank on his “potential”.
The Skaggs situation has and will follow him and MLB clubs would probably want to give someone else the chance that has rightfully earned it. Most teams can’t take the chance on a potential clubhouse cancer. Maybe the independent leagues or foreign leagues may want him.
Probably would find better success pitching out of the bullpen. I could see the Orioles extending him another minors contract.
California Penal..
That debacle of an appearance on Dan Patrick show in 2013 (“I’m here to honor Qualcomm”) certainly didn’t help his image!
-WAY- too many comments just for a lowly Matt Harvey post. Maybe we need to examine how we spend our free time.
Like commenting about the comments on a Matt Harvey post?
I did include myself in that statement.
If every player in the game got banned for supplying an illegal drug in the 60 and 70s, I don’t think any team could have fielded a team.
You forgot the coke of the 80s and 90s.
Illogical people blame drug dealers and not the person who decides to use drugs
I have access to the same drugs everyone else does and I DO NOT take them
It’s like anything else like eating too much sweets. It isn’t the cookie manufacturers that are at fault
This is just basic logical thinking
If you can’t resist temptations that’s YOUR fault
It’s a total injustice that anyone had to go to prison because someone else didnt use drugs properly
Should we arrest Budweiser ceos because someone died getting drunk? What’s the difference?
My mom gave me an illegal pain killer when I had a migraine. She had a prescription and I didn’t. Is she evil?
Tyler Skaggs seemed to always be in pain. Check out how many starts he missed. I don’t know enough about Harvey or the situation to make enough of it. Was it a couple of pills, or was he a supplier. Let me know and then I’ll have a strong opinion on the matter.
Giants will be all over this guy. Sign him to a “rehab” deal (whoops I went there!) and trade him at the deadline for a couple of lesser prospects.
Dude should go overseas to try to resurrect his career.