Levine: Jake Arrieta Has Sympathy For Mets Pitcher Matt Harvey In Innings Limit Fiasco
Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- As the hottest pitcher in baseball, Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta has a few things in common with beleaguered Mets right-hander Matt Harvey. Both pitchers playing on playoff-bound clubs are into an innings area that has people talking more about protection of arms than winning ballgames.
At 166 innings, Harvey is being resistant to going past 180 innings pitched this season. On the advice of the doctor who did his ligament replacement surgery, the innings limit of 180 was recommended. Now with his team in the final four weeks of a run toward winning the National League East, he has become the focus of baseball and his teammates. On Saturday, Harvey wouldn't give any assurance that he'll pitch in the postseason.
On Sunday, Arrieta shared a few of his thoughts.
"I am not the doctor," Arrieta said. "The organization has to look out for what's best for him (Harvey). He is going to be really good for a long time. If 180 is what everyone in the medical field is telling him, it's tough to go against that."
The question of putting his pitching career ahead of competing for his team in the most crucial time of the season has Harvey caught squarely in the middle of a verbal fist fight between agent Scott Boras and the Mets.
Arrieta is also represented by Boras and has had his own innings questions in the past. He supports Harvey in standing up for his career.
"The teammate factor I am sure bothers him a little bit," Arrieta said after watching this soap opera develop for Harvey in New York. "You grind it out with these guys all year, and then this situation comes up. This is not Matt's fault. He had Tommy John, and this is his career. It is a double-edged sword for him. If you pitch, you put yourself at risk. If you don't, you feel like you let your teammates down. This is a situation difficult for the team and the player. I don't necessarily have any words of wisdom for him or the organization. Hopefully they can reach a decision where both sides are comfortable."
This is the first year that Arrieta will approach 200 innings pitched in his career. Before 2015, Arrieta's high-water mark for innings pitched was 156 2/3.
"Look at the staff, look at the pitcher's body of work first," Arrieta said. "I could throw 250 innings this season if I needed to. I have trained myself to be ready. Going out and pitching is the easiest part of my training. That is why I train the way that I do. When I go out on the mound, I want to keep my heart rate at 65-70 heart beats per minute. This is a part of me working hard to make it (pitching) another day at the office."
Cubs manager Joe Maddon has been careful with Arrieta as of late, knowing he is already 35 innings past his previous high for a season.
"For me, if we are ever in that situation (like Harvey and the Mets), hopefully we will define it in advance so something like this would never occur," Maddon said. "That is what I get when I watch something like that. You want to avoid that at all costs, especially with what they are doing right now. They are doing so well, they don't need any distraction. The Mets were proactive, but for us it's a lesson learned. You don't want to be put in that situation this time of year, with all that is at stake and have to answer those types of questions."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
