The good news Mets fans have been waiting a long time for might be put on hold a little longer.
Matt Harvey will not take a mound next week as hopefully expected. The organization reportedly wants the recovering Mets pitcher to slow down his rehab and take the cautious road back.
The injured righthander will not throw off a mound Tuesday as originally planned, two team sources told the New York Daily News.
“He’s fine,” a team source said. “It’s nothing physical, it’s just a plan to be more cautious.”
The Mets are reluctant to have their ultra-competitive pitcher come back too soon and are concerned about the recent rash of pitchers who have required a second Tommy John surgery.
“He will just go a little slower,” pitching coach Dan Warthen said.
Harvey was scheduled to get back on the mound next week as he attempts to return from the October surgical procedure. But the Mets wanted to slow down the process, to prevent a setback.
The move was made out of caution, according to the source, not because there was anything wrong with Harvey.
Harvey has been persistent about wanting to pitch in a major-league game by the end of this season. The Mets, who have said that is not their priority, are focused on getting him back for Opening Day 2015.
With the goal of pitching as soon as August and getting five to seven major-league starts in 2014, Harvey calculated that he needed to be on a mound by June 10. While the Mets have not completely ruled out Harvey pitching in 2014, it is not something they are planning on at the moment, according to the team sources.
“If something happens to him, that would just be a huge blow,” one of the sources explained.
“We just want him to take it a little slower. Nobody wants him to be less competitive, we just want to be cautious.”
Harvey is continuing his rehab at the Mets’ spring-training complex in Port St. Lucie while the team is on its 11-game road trip.
