The Mets have been one of the great surprises of the 2015 season and the loyal supporters of the Amazin's have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. There have been a lot of flashbacks to back-to-back September collapses in 2007 and 2008, but the latest bad news to strike the franchise involves two non-players -- Scott Boras and Sandy Alderson.
The GM and agent are at odds over the innings limit on ace Matt Harvey, as Boras said doctors have set a hard cap at 180 frames while general manager Sandy Alderson said it was a "soft" limit, according to CBS Sports.
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Alderson has said he will not let an agent control when one of his important young pitchers will be shut down while Boras has insisted that it isn't his limit, but he's going off doctors' orders. Harvey has thrown 166 1/3 innings this year, so if he is held to the ceiling of 180, he likely only has two starts left in him at most.
"This is not a club's decision. This is a doctor's decision," Boras said via CBS Sports. "Any club that chooses to defy a surgeon's wishes is putting the player in peril."
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Harvey, 26, has worked his way back from Tommy John surgery after 17 months away from the game (longer recovery time than most) and is 12-7 with a 2.60 ERA in 25 starts. New York was hopeful that Harvey, deGrom and Noah Syndergaard would provide them with young guns into the postseason, if it gets that far.
Boras, citing doctors, doesn't believe Harvey should exceed the innings restriction. Harvey last pitched on Wednesday, where he hurled 6.1 innings against the Phillies and complained of feeling weak and dehydrated afterward.
The Mets have been proactive in easing Harvey's workload, recently giving him 11 days off between starts and coming up with a plan to skip him again this month. Boras has argued that even his excessive time off and elongated recovery period after the surgery doesn't have an impact on innings limits.
Alderson reportedly has plans to defy Boras, who cites Harvey's surgeon Dr. James Andrews as the person who came up with the innings restriction. The general manager believes that Boras' concern stems from another client of his, Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, suffering a biceps issue after spending a year away from the game to recover from Tommy John.
Alderson was also upset at an email he received from Boras citing the innings cap.
"For a guy to say to us on the 29th of August, '180 innings and then you're going to shut him down ...' don't call me seven months later and tell me you're pulling the rug out from under me, not after all we've done to protect the player," the general manager said.
Boras insisted the decision has nothing to do with money and is "not a negotiation." Alderson has maintained that 180 was a "soft target," though he admitted there was a "slightly enhanced" risk in going over it.
As for Harvey, he is set to start against the Nationals on Tuesday. New York owns a six-game lead over Washington in the standings.
Mets fans are having fun in September for the first time in years, but of course, something had to derail the excitement.
The Flushing faithful can only hope this is the worst it gets to erase the specter of September collapses.
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