Strasburg Advises Harvey To Take His Time

Kevin Kernan had an interesting piece in Sunday's New York Post, a bit of a comparison of Matt Harvey and young stud pitcher for the Nationals Stephen Strasburg. The comparison was less of their styles of pitching, and more of their road to recovery from Tommy John surgery, which they both underwent very early in their careers.

In the article, Strasburg details the difficulties he had in the recovery.

His advice to Harvey is take it slow and don’t judge day by day.

“I learned the hard way,’’ Strasburg told The Post on Sunday at Space Coast Stadium.
“It can flip on you,’’ Strasburg said of the rehab process. “You’ll feel great one day and the next day it’s terrible. The best advice I got was, ‘Look where you were at the start of the month and then at the end of the month. Don’t look at where you were yesterday.’ ”

With so much attention on everything Harvey does, it will be difficult to take the wider view, but that’s what Harvey must do. Strasburg turns 26 in July, Harvey turns 25 this month.

It's an easy comparison to make, and Strasburg's advice makes a ton of sense. It seems as though Matt Harvey and the Mets have been toeing this line with each other about the pace each wants the rehab to proceed at. The Mets, while extolling the virtues of a 90 win season, know internally that Harvey pitching in this probably lost season is a meaningless risk. Harvey, a fiery competitor who had originally promised to be back for Opening Day of this year, wants to return as soon as possible.

I would rather see Harvey wait, and that s even if I'm wrong and this team is very competitive. There is more here at stake than this season, and it's not worth taking the chance on the staff ace's elbow. Shut it down, rehab it slowly, and we'll see you in 2015.