PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets are expecting a highly motivated Matt Harvey from Day 1 of spring training.
Once the Mets ace, Harvey is trying to resurrect his star after missing half of last season, following the second significant surgery of his career, this time for thoracic outlet syndrome.
The 27-year-old Harvey can hit free agency after the 2018 season, and team officials believe the carrot of a potential huge contract will push the righty even harder in his latest comeback.
“Two of his last three years he’s been hurt, so I’ve got to believe Matt is highly motivated, which is a good thing to have — a motivated player,” a team official said.
Harvey missed all of 2014 rehabbing from Tommy John surgery but reemerged as staff ace the following year, when manager Terry Collins sent him back to the mound for the ninth inning in Game 5 of the World Series.
Harvey faltered, surrendering the tying run in the Mets’ decisive defeat to the Royals, the beginning of a 16-month stretch he almost certainly would like to forget. The diagnosis in July of a physical ailment might have come as a relief to Harvey, who was 4-10 with a 4.86 ERA in 17 starts before he was shut down for the year.
For the final month of his abbreviated season, there were constant questions whether Harvey would remain in the rotation, be sent to the bullpen or even told he needed a stint at Triple-A Las Vegas.
Team brass is operating under the assumption Harvey was dealing with thoracic outlet syndrome for months before the diagnosis, and the ailment was responsible for his brutal season. Included was a lengthy stretch in which Harvey struggled to get his fastball into the mid-90s.
Now team officials again are expecting big things from Harvey. That not only will entail pitching at a high level but completing a full season and challenging Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom for supremacy in the rotation.
If Harvey can’t respond, Collins will walk a tightrope trying to balance the need to win — the Mets perhaps have other suitable options in Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo — and attempting to give the former ace the benefit of the doubt.
The early signs have been good: Harvey has remained on schedule in his offseason throwing program and isn’t expected to face any limitations during spring training.
But team officials also admit they are dealing with the unknown: Thoracic outlet syndrome, a disorder that occurs when blood vessels or nerves become compressed near the shoulder, is relatively uncommon. Pitchers such as Kenny Rogers and Chris Carpenter returned from the ailment and were effective, but neither was a fireballer in the mold of Harvey.
The Mets don’t expect to have much of an indication until near the end of March. By that point, Harvey will have endured almost a full camp, with all the routines of pitching on four or five days of rest, throwing side sessions and gradually building up arm strength.
“You’re not going to know until you get into that grind,” the Mets official said. “You pitch a day and take a couple of days off or your side. You get in that routine for a month and you’re going to see how they do, so it’s more along the lines from our perspective we have to see, but going in, all signs are good.”