Something Silly This Way Comes (And Probably Goes Very Quickly)

May 8, 2018 will most likely not be a date that lives on in the minds of Mets fans forever. Or Reds fans for that matter. It most certainly will not sting like the "Midnight Massacre" of June 15, 1977. The day the Mets shipped Seaver to the Reds for four players that no one in New York had ever heard of. Because, at 33, Seaver was called a "headache" by M. Donald Grant. Seaver thought he deserved more than his $225,000 salary (ya think?).

First things first though. Devin Mesoraco getting scratched from the Reds starting line up an hour before the first pitch was nothing Reds fans haven't witnessed before. Mesoraco leaving the first base dugout, changing uniforms, and reemerging in the third base dugout, however, was a strange thing to witness. I'm certain I've never seen that before.

Back to the topic at hand...

Matt Harvey, The Dark Knight, rising in the Queen City.

The Reds brass have been pretty open about their intentions to move Harvey to a willing contender in need of an arm at the deadline. Before that can happen though, Harvey will have to prove himself a valuable commodity. The Reds, when acquiring Harvey, obviously saw something. Not that giving up a backup catcher who has spent more time on the trainer's table than behind the dish since his All-Star season in 2014 was a hard choice for the Reds to make. Keep in mind, however, that Mesoraco is making $7.5 million dollars MORE than Harvey under their current contracts. Both of which, are set to expire at season's end. The Reds gladly agreed to eat that $7.5 million to ship Mesoraco to the Big Apple. The Mets will pay the rest of Harvey's contract ($5.625 million), the Reds will do the same with Mesoraco's contract ($13.125 million).

We all know what Harvey has the potential to do. Or HAD the potential to do. He is just 29 years old. Not even old by baseball's ridiculous definition. So let's look at some numbers, shall we?

Harvey has never won more than 13 games in a season. In fact, his 2015 season is the only season in which he has managed double-digit wins. But by now we all should know that a pitcher cannot be defined by W's alone. He had an ERA of 2.71. He started 29 games, 21 of them were quality starts. He finished the season with a 1.02 WHIP. I could go on and on with these numbers. But I won't. If you were paying any attention at all, you know Harvey was as close to unhittable as you can get in 2015. All of this coming on the heels of Tommy John surgery in late 2013 and missing the entire 2014 season. Impressive to say the least.

Then came 2016. The wheels fell off. Midsummer, he was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome.

If you're not familiar with TOS (most of aren't), you can read up on it here.

2017 was a disaster. I won't bore you with the numbers, you can find them fairly easily if you'd like. By mid-April of this season, Harvey had been moved to the bullpen, by May, he was essentially given his walking papers.

Full circle we have come. Harvey looked stellar in his first start with the Reds. Giving up just one hit in four innings. He was less than stellar his second time out. Again, only four innings deep before hitting the showers.

The good news is Harvey has a solid ten weeks to make an impression on a contender that needs an arm for the second half of a long season. The bad news is, he has a solid ten weeks to make an impression on a contender that needs an arm for the second half of a long season...it could go either way.

When all is said and done and the 2018 season is in the books, Harvey will not be in a Reds uniform. If the deal never happened, Mesoraco would not be in a Reds uniform after this season either.

Worst case scenario, Reds fans? Harvey fails miserably and the Reds are stuck with a lousy pitcher on a team that's not going anywhere this year anyway. If he pitches well and gets traded I'll write a follow up in five years when the prospects he fetched start making some noise...or not.