Why the Miami Marlins should avoid Matt Harvey at all costs

New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey has been designated for assignment and some teams are lining up for his services.

The Miami Marlins may be one of the teams to enter this “sweepstakes” but this is a bad idea. Bringing Harvey to Miami is a disaster waiting to happen.

The performance of Matt Harvey this season

Simply put Harvey has been awful this season. In eight appearances (four starts), Harvey has an ERA of 7.00 and a WHIP of 1.556. In 27 innings Harvey has allowed 21 runs and only stuck out 20 batters while walking nine. The right hander has also allowed six home runs in his limited time. It would be unwise for the Marlins to bring in someone who is performing this poorly. Harvey is no longer “The Dark Knight”. At this point in time he is not even Robin.

The performance of Matt Harvey over the previous two seasons

This season is not an outlier. Harvey has struggled to regain his form after the 2015 World Series run. During the 2016 season Harvey was 4-10 with an ERA of 4.86 in 17 starts. Harvey’s average start length decreased by an entire inning and was not able to go deep enough into games. 2017 was not any better for Harvey or the Mets. A 5-7 record with an ERA of 6.70 in 18 starts and again his average start length dropped by an inning. It is incredibly hard to justify keeping a pitcher in the rotation who continues to average less and less innings per start.

Mickey Callaway was unable to fix him

New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway was with the Cleveland Indians for the previous four seasons as their pitching coach. During Callaway’s time in Cleveland, the Indians had one of the best groups of pitchers in all of baseball. The most notable cases during Callway’s tenure were the reclamation projects of Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco. Bauer and Carrasco were not the pitchers they are today before Callaway. In fact many wondered if Carrasco was even salvageable. Carrasco is now one of the best pitchers in baseball. Harvey was in a similar situation to Carrasco to start this season. Granted Harvey has experienced greater success earlier in his career than Carrasco but the theme is the same. Callaway could have helped Harvey turn it around but it was not meant to be. If Callaway was not able to help Harvey, who can?

The negative effect of Matt Harvey on the Marlins pitching staff

It can be argued that the Marlins pitching staff is already performing poorly so what can adding Harvey to the mix hurt? If Harvey were to become a member of the rotation it is possible his bad performances could lead to more bullpen usage. If Harvey is lit up early (it has happened often this season) the bullpen would have to come in earlier than anticipated and it could provide issues for subsequent games.

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The other aspect is Harvey’s relative poor attitude he has displayed this season. The last thing the Marlins need right now is for this to rub off on younger players. This could create a toxic environment in the clubhouse that could take a long time to get rid of. A period of time that could outlast any of the Marlins young players currently on the roster.

Attitude issues and unwanted attention

When the Mets demoted Harvey to the bullpen he was quite vocal about his displeasure with the situation. This with his poor performances ultimately led to New York deciding to move on. The Marlins have garnered a lot of negative attention over the past few months and Harvey openly griping about the team would only bring more criticism of the team. This is a scenario that ownership would like to avoid as they look to change how they are viewed by their fans and baseball world. Harvey is just not worth the trouble when the known negative is so great.

Next: Matt Harvey needs to be the next Miami Marlin

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