NY Sports Day has learned Matt Harvey has been suspended for issues related to chronic tardiness, according to two sources close to the Mets organization.
The 28 year-old was suspended three games beginning yesterday after he didn’t show up at Citi Field last night. According to one source, Harvey was running late because of the Rangers playoff game, which started at 3pm.
Fox Sports has reported there was a communication issue with the Mets and he did not report to the ballpark because of what Harvey said was a migraine.
FanRag’s Jon Heyman reported Harvey showed up to Citi Field today and was told about the suspension.
But according to manager Terry Collins this morning, the suspension was not just one incident. “There’s things with this job that certainly are internal that the public can’t see and how hard it is,” Collins said. “This one is a tough one. We hope to put it behind us and move forward.”
The lateness issue dates back to last season, according to the other source, as Harvey has had a tough go of it showing up to the ballpark on time on multiple occasions.
NY Sports Day’s Rich Coutinho was able to confirm, though sources, the suspension had nothing to do with the sex-toy prank, which was first reported by Newsday’s Marc Carig.
Harvey has one more day left before his suspension comes to an end after the Mets 7-0 loss to the Marlins today, which was started by Adam Wilk, taking Harvey’s spot in the rotation.
Harvey may be held until Wednesday, so he the team can skip Rafael Montero’s turn in the rotation.
This is just the latest incident where the Mets have been embarrassed recently due to what can be perceived as immaturity by some of their young stars.
“There’s things that go on that we deal with every day that make the job difficult, but it comes with the territory. So this is one of those instances,” Collins said. “You’ve got to take the entire club into perspective and it’s a big picture of things. In order to try and control things you’ve got make tough decisions and this is one of them.”
Additional reporting by Rich Coutinho and John Fennelly.