“The LTJ Editorial”
Author: Luis Tirado Jr.
Date: 9-17-13
Twitter: @LTJ81
Website: http://www.TheNYExpress.com
“Harvey, face the knife, not the rehab!”
Mets fans across the country were anxiously awaiting what Dr. James Andrews would tell SP Matt Harvey this past Monday. No news broke out at the time as the team issued a statement saying they would have full details the following day. It was finally revealed that Harvey and company decided to give a month or two into extensive rehab over having surgery. The thought process here is to give the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow time to heal naturally while rehabilitating it daily. If by around mid November another MRI shows no sign of healing, all signs point to the inevitable – Harvey will need to undergo Tommy John Surgery which would effectively keep him out of baseball for about a year. Some say Harvey refuses to accept the circumstances and wants to avoid this surgery as much as possible. Others say there is a 50/50 chance that he could indeed come back from this naturally and like he posted on his Twitter account, will be seeing fans back on the mound come April 1st, 2014. In my honest opinion, I think he made the wrong choice here. He should have faced surgery and accept the fact that he's hurt and needs this taken care of as soon as possible.
The plan now is to have him be involved in a six to eight week throwing program to test his elbow and see if he can avoid surgery. While I admire Harvey's commitment to beat this the natural way, I honestly believe he is going with his heart and not his mind. Injuries of this nature really are 50/50 if you think about it. Lets say he does indeed beat this the natural way and all is fine for now. Fast forward a few years later and he has another similar injury, this time, it's worst and on the same throwing arm. What if it's so serious that it could potentially be career-ending? All because he went against medical advice in 2013 and didn't get Tommy John Surgery. What if in three or four years from now it comes back to haunt him? Years of wear and tear of not getting it surgically fixed now could potentially mean he loses all the attributes that made him a dominant pitcher later.
Regardless, he will have to face the knife at some point since a tear in your elbow is very hard to heal through rehab. If anything, this is just adding more time to recovery if and when he does need the surgery. It truly is a shame since there is a ton of pressure on the Mets to deliver big in 2014 and without their premiere ace on the mound, they are already at a disadvantage. I'm pretty sure the Mets will use their finances to acquire a top pitcher to help compliment our starting rotation. Even if Harvey does come back on April 1st like he said, there is no guarantee he will last the entire season healthy. That's why I truly hope it's realized sooner than later that he does need to go under the knife, get the surgery done, and start working on coming back 100% healthy for 2015. It's better to play it safe now than be sorry for years to come.
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6 comments:
These are the type of articles that make some writers look really foolish. If Dr. Andrews recommended surgery and Harvey rejected his advice I would agree. Mr Tirado did not examine Harvey. I did not examine Harvey. No one has released the details of the tear. I can't nor can any one else who hasn't examined Harvey give the advice in this article.
Maybe he has a 2% tear. TJ surgery is not the risk it use to be but there are risks and not all pitchers comeback to the pre TJ form. If later we find out that he had a 50 % tear then I would agree he should get the surgery now. If he takes the rehab route and it doesn't work and he gets the surgery done in December he still looks to make his return at the start of the 2015 season.
Hey Richard! Thanks for your comment. I agree I definitely didn't diagnose Harvey but if you remember when all this was developing, he did prematurely tweet that he would be back next year on April 1st. All medical reports suggested that this kind of injury ultimately requires Tommy John Surgery, even Sandy Anderson said it. That Harvey himself is delaying the inevitable because it's most likely going to be needed anyway. Elbow tears of that nature never heal, they only get handled and passable after a time but the pain and discomfort is there. After a while it becomes unbearable, especially to pitch.
From all the reports I read, most people say Harvey refuses to believe the severity of his injury. That's why I wrote the piece I did because I think he isn't thinking about anything beyond being on that roster come 2014.
Why does everyone keep saying why the Mets need to add a veteran pitcher?
Count off:
Wheeler
Niese
Gee
Mejia
(Pick one) -- Montero, deGrom, Gorski, Syndergaard, Dice-K, Harang
Shouldn't the extremely limited money (I don't believe they will spend anywhere near close to the $50 million coming off the books) be spent upgrading the non-existent offense?
Many consider Dr. Andrews to be the very best when it comes to this type of injury. Reading between the lines I don't think Andrews really felt surgery was the only solution. I don't know the extent of the tear but Andrews likely does.
Harvey did relay some information that he got from Andrews.
“ 'Nothing was moving in places it shouldn’t,' Harvey said of Dr. Andrews’ tests."
That's not a major quote but it also doesn't sound like something coming from a doctor who was certain surgery is needed. Harvey seemed to be more positive after meeting with Andrews.
If Harvey is going against the advice of Andrews then I would agree with you but waiting until December doesn't change anything. The return date would still be the beginning of 2015. If he pushes it much past that then he would.
I also think that a lot of people buy into the myth that TJ surgery makes pitchers better and is risk free. It comes with risks. More risks than pitching with a 5% tear that's been rehabbed, but less risk than pitching with a 50% tear.
Richard, you are right. I just was given the impression Harvey was downplaying everything because he just didn't want to admit that he at first was told Tommy John Surgery was the answer to fix the tear.
Hey Reese! Thanks for the comment, I think the Mets definitely need to add some more power bats to the lineup but with Harvey out, who is going to compliment Niese? Usually the best teams have that 1-2 punch that are lights out, Niese would need another high quality pitcher to compliment him throughout the season. I think they will address both a new starting pitcher and some better hitting players.
I want to hear from Andrews
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