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Mets should consider signing Matt Harvey to minor league deal

TAICHUNG, TAIWAN - MARCH 09: Matt Harvey #43 of Team Italy reacts after pitching at the bottom of the 3rd inning during the World Baseball Classic Pool A game between Italy and Cuba at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on March 09, 2023 in Taichung, Taiwan.

TAICHUNG, TAIWAN – MARCH 09: Matt Harvey #43 of Team Italy reacts after pitching at the bottom of the 3rd inning during the World Baseball Classic Pool A game between Italy and Cuba at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium on March 09, 2023 in Taichung, Taiwan. / Yung Chuan Yang/Getty Images

The Matt Harvey who is pitching for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic is not the Matt Harvey who burst on the scene with the Mets in 2012, was one of the best pitchers in baseball by 2013, and an absolute bulldog in 2015.

Gone is The Dark Knight, replaced by The Godfather, which Harvey is now calling himself as he anchors Italy’s staff.

To watch Harvey pitch now is to observe someone who is trying to reinvent himself at 33 years old, with his mid-90s fastball gone — along with his once-vaunted slider. Harvey’s fastball now sits around 90 mph, and it is obvious that he will never again be a guy who overpowers opposing hitters.

In two starts for Italy, Harvey has a 1.29 ERA over 7.0 innings, allowing four hits, walking just one, and striking out three. No conclusions should be drawn from those stats, at least early on, because of the competition Harvey has faced. But something that is obvious is that he is a much different pitcher than he was in 2021 with the Baltimore Orioles — the last time he pitched in the majors.

In 2021, Harvey’s average four-seam fastball was 93.6 mph after averaging 94.5 mph in 2020 with the Kansas City Royals and 93.2 mph in 2019 for the Los Angeles Angels. When Harvey was at his best (in 2013 and 2015 with the Mets) his fastball was ordinarily around 97 mph.

The aforementioned blazing fastball (and Harvey’s slider) vanished following surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which he underwent in 2016. And in the years after, as Harvey tried to succeed as a Met and eventually an Angel, Royal, and Oriole, it seemed that he was still trying to be that overpowering guy. Not anymore.

In listening to Harvey speak, he is at ease, comfortable with who he is now as a pitcher — and with the fact that the heights he reached with the Mets in the 2015 World Series are a world away from where he is now.

While discussing Harvey, it can’t be ignored that he is coming off a 60-game suspension stemming from his disclosure of drug distribution, which he spoke about while testifying during the Eric Kay trial.

In that trial, where Kay was found guilty of supplying drugs that led to the July 2019 death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher…

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