Matt Harvey’s Mets career is over after he refuses minor league assignment

Matt Harvey’s New York Mets career has come to a close.

Harvey was designated for assignment by the Mets and is refusing to go to the minor leagues, which will end his time with the team. The Mets will now have seven days to either trade or release the pitcher.

Mets executive Sandy Alderson is figuring teams will take a shot on Harvey.

The Mets will have seven days either to make a trade or to release Harvey outright.

"My guess," Sandy Alderson said," is that there are people out there who are willing to take a shot on Matt Harvey."

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) May 4, 2018

Though Harvey started out the season well with five scoreless innings in his season debut, he struggled over his next three outings and was demoted to the bullpen. He gave up runs in three of his four bullpen appearances, including allowing five runs over two innings on Thursday. That plus questions about his focus likely led the Mets to make the move.

This is nothing short of shock and bummer about where Harvey’s career with the team ended. Harvey was an All-Star and Cy Young candidate in 2013 and then returned from Tommy John surgery to help the Mets to the World Series in 2015. The big workload after his surgery seemed to hurt him, as he never returned to form afterwards. He was the subject of multiple off-field headlines, had a controversy about a potential innings limit, and now his Mets career is ending in the most unceremonious of fashions.

Few could have seen this coming five years ago when Harvey was such a bright spot for the team.