One of the best pitchers in New York Mets’ franchise history had some harsh words for one of the team’s current cornerstone pitchers.
Doc Gooden, who won Rookie of the Year in 1984 as a 19-year-old with the Mets and captured the Cy Young as a 20-year-old a year later, shared his opinion via Twitter about the Matt Harvey innings limit controversy.
Doc essentially said he expects Harvey to put the so-called 180-innings limit aside and act like a franchise leader.
can't believe what I'm hearing i couldn't imagine me or ron darling agent would even think about taking the ball from us come crunch time i
— Dwight Gooden (@DocGooden16) September 6, 2015
Would expect Matt being the ace to come out & say he's pitching if they make the playoffs & moving forward he wants the ball every 5th day
— Dwight Gooden (@DocGooden16) September 6, 2015
day here on out as Iong as he's feeling good ….lets remember stressful innings r more important than innings counts not even going to
— Dwight Gooden (@DocGooden16) September 6, 2015
mention my innings as a 18yr 19yr 20yr
— Dwight Gooden (@DocGooden16) September 6, 2015
Keep in mind that Gooden played at a time when pitch counts and innings limits were hardly a consideration. Doc himself threw 218 MLB innings as a 19-year-old and an absurd 276.2 as a 20-year-old, which is why he has such strong feelings on the matter.
Of course, though many typically blame his substance abuse/drug problems on his career going south, others believe a shoulder injury due to his heavy workload early in his career led to a relative lack of success later in his career.
The Mets of course do not want Harvey to burn out, especially since he is in his first year back from Tommy John surgery. But they have been very cautious in not overworking him by limiting his pitch counts and innings. For Harvey and Scott Boras to now make a huge deal of this seems unfair to the Mets. GM Sandy Alderson said as much in his comments on the matter.
Photo: Doc Gooden/Twitter
