Though Matt Harvey remains hopeful he will pitch next season, the Mets ace will meet with Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on Monday to determine whether he needs Tommy John surgery to repair the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Speaking on Tuesday for the first time since the team announced the injury, Harvey said he is optimistic that he could recover from the injury simply through rest and rehab, having felt much improvement since he last pitched on Aug. 24.
“Everything feels fine, my arm feels great and I’m still very optimistic about everything, but I’m not a doctor, so we’ll see what happens,” Harvey said while visiting a Manhattan firehouse as part of the team’s annual remembrance of 9/11. “The way my body feels, the way my arm feels, I put a ball down for two days and I felt fine, so it’s kind of one of those things where I’m optimistic towards [not] having surgery on something that isn’t bothering me anymore. I’m going to get as many opinions as I can, and which way I decide to go, I’m going to go 150 percent.”
Harvey, 24, said he would not make an immediate decision regarding surgery after visiting Andrews and his course of action may not be determined for a week or more.
Harvey has not undergone a second MRI exam, but has developed some optimism since speaking with Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay, who avoided surgery with a similar injury and remained one of baseball’s biggest workhorses.
“In my mind, if I rehab and throw for 10-plus years like Roy Halladay has … everybody’s different, so you never know,” Harvey said. “I can go off of how I feel and what I believe in, but when it’s a doctor’s decision and he’s throwing issues out there that are not going to be able to come from rehab, obviously a decision is going to have to be made.”
Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said the team is prepared to lose their franchise pillar for the 2014 season, but he doesn’t want to see Harvey initially avoid surgery only to ultimately require it next year.
“I know Matt and the organization don’t want to lose two years,” Wilpon said. “If it has to be a year and that’s what it ends up being, we’re prepared for that and we’ll deal with it, but I don’t think anybody wants it to be longer than that.”