Matt Harvey Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

It took longer than it probably should have, but Mets ace Matt Harvey finally went under the knife on Tuesday.

The 24 year old King of Queens went a hard luck 9-5 with a 2.27 ERA in 2013, before being sidelined with a partial tear in his throwing elbow. Harvey initially wanted to try and rehab the injury, but eventually came to the realization that surgery was the unfortunate, yet practical solution. The surgery will likely sideline the ace for all of the 2014 season.

With Harvey on the shelf, there has been much speculation about how the Mets will approach this free agent off-season when they’ll finally come out from under the Johan Santana and Jason Bay contracts. One potential target, at least in my mind, was former two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum, who was slated to hit the market but just re-signed with the San Francisco Giants for two years and $35 million. Although I do think the 29 year old starter has some good years left in him, $17.5 million per year is way too much to give a kid who went 10-14 with a 4.37 ERA last season. I had expected Lincecum’s value to be closer to $10 million a year, which would have made him a much more practical gamble.

We will now need to wait and see if Mets GM Sandy Alderson hunts for a band-aid back end veteran starter, or if he stands pat with what he has in his rotation. The organization has seen growth out of Zack Wheeler, consistency from Dillon Gee and Jonathon Niese and prospect Noah Syndergaard (acquired from Toronto in the R.A. Dickey trade) is one of the most promising young arms in the minor leagues.