THAT WORKED OUT: A lot of things had to go right for the Mets to find a gem with Matt Harvey out of UNC with the seventh pick in the 2010 draft. (AP)
THAT WORKED OUT: A lot of things had to go right for the Mets to find a gem with Matt Harvey out of UNC with the seventh pick in the 2010 draft (inset). (AP; Neil Miller (inset))
Every time Matt Harvey takes the mound, as he is scheduled to do tomorrow night at Citi Field, Mets fans should thank Jose Reyes, Bryce Harper, Arte Moreno and Bernard Madoff, among others, for their roles in getting Harvey to Flushing.
Every successful athlete has a back story to how he got where he got. Harvey’s rise as a Met is particularly noteworthy because of just how perfect, precise a storm it required to create this marriage.
With the 2013 amateur draft starting tonight, the Mets and Yankees will choose 11th and 26th, respectively (with the Yankees again going 32nd and 33rd) and only can hope to experience a convergence of forces similar to those that put Harvey in a Mets uniform. It probably won’t. To wit:
1) Harvey had to turn down the Angels as a high school senior. In the 2007 draft, the Angels selected Harvey 118th overall out of Fitch Senior High School in Groton, Conn. As Sports Illustrated recently reported, Angels scouting director Eddie Bane picked Harvey with the thought that he would sign for $1.5 million. Except Moreno, the Angels owner, wouldn’t authorize that payment.
The Angels offered Harvey $1 million, and Harvey turned it down to pitch for the University of North Carolina.
2) The Mets had to be shockingly
awful in 2009. The Mets kicked off the ’09 campaign having missed the playoffs by one game each of the two previous seasons, and they had every expectation of seriously contending once again.
Instead, “The whole team went down,” said Omar Minaya, the Mets’ GM at the time. “From an injury standpoint, it was a nightmare.”
Most prominently, Reyes played in just 36 games due to a right leg injury, and everyone from Carlos Delgado to Carlos Beltran to David Wright to J.J. Putz joined Reyes on the disabled list. The Mets limped to a horrible 70-92 record, which gave them the seventh pick in the 2010 draft.
3) The 2010 draft had to be loaded. Harper, correctly anticipating that severe bonus restrictions would go into effect starting in 2011, finished high school two years early in order to cash in at age 17. The Nationals selected
Harper first, and he won NL Rookie of the Year in 2012.
Pittsburgh, picking second, grabbed high school pitcher Jameson Taillon, who still is highly regarded and could make his big league debut later this season.
Then came the Orioles, who went with infielder Manny Machado and already are reaping the benefits — Machado helped the Orioles make last year’s playoffs and is an All-Star candidate this year.
4) Harvey had to underwhelm in his first two college seasons. Marlin McPhail, the Mets’ area scout for the Carolinas, didn’t place Harvey high on his radar as the right-hander began his junior year. Then Harvey pitched well in his first two 2010 games for the Tar Heels, which prompted McPhail to attend Harvey’s third start, March 5 against Michigan. Harvey pitched eight innings while allowing three hits, walking three and striking out 11.
“He was outstanding,” McPhail said. “I said, ‘We’ve got to stay on him.’ ” A Mets talent evaluator scouted Harvey’s final 11 starts.
To Minaya, Harvey evoked Roger
Clemens, because of his aggressive approach. Veteran scout Brian Lambe filed a report comparing Harvey to Justin Verlander — “They’re both big, both strong, both have a mechanical-type delivery,” Lamb said.
When Harvey started, McPhail looked for other teams’ evaluators to determine whether the pitcher would fall to No. 7.
“I never really got the feeling that anyone else was really sold on him,” McPhail said.
McPhail was right. The Royals, drafting fourth, selected Cal State-Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon, who has yet to play in the majors. The Indians at No. 5 went with Ole Miss left-hander Drew Pomeranz, whom they included in a 2011 trade with Colorado to acquire pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. The Diamondbacks with the sixth pick nabbed Texas A&M right-hander Barret Loux, who pre-agreed to a $2-million signing bonus, only to fail his physical. Arizona never signed him, and he now pitches in the Cubs’ minor league system.
5) Bernard Madoff had to get caught. Well, this didn’t need to happen, but it greased the skids. From 2006-09, the Mets fared poorly in the amateur draft, in no small part due to their obedience of commissioner Bud Selig’s unenforceable “slots” for draft picks. Minaya, in a 2007 interview with me, lamented that the Mets’ acting as “very good citizens” had hurt the team’s ability to strengthen its farm system.
As Madoff’s arrest in December 2008 crippled the Mets’ finances, baseball Selig quickly and repeatedly lent his support to his ally Fred Wilpon. When the Mets — mindful that their post-Madoff spending was being monitored by fans and media — drafted Harvey, knowing he and his agent Scott Boras would want more than the $2.1 million slot price, Selig and his deputies didn’t strenuously object. The Mets paid Harvey $2.525 million, winning themselves a small dose of positive publicity for spending over slot.
6) Harvey had to surge. OK, so this isn’t luck as much as a tribute to the pitcher — and to the Mets for seeing this potential in him. The Mets also extensively scouted Colon, Pomeranz, catcher Yasmani Grandal (whom the Padres picked 12th) pitcher Chris Sale (White Sox, 13th) and Zack Cox (Cardinals, 25th).
“We got lucky, plain and simple,” said Rudy Terrasas, then the Mets’ scouting director. “The guy I wanted at No. 7
fell into our laps.”
Any team would kill to get as lucky tonight.
ken.davidoff@nypost.com