The Mets Will Start Matt Harvey on Short Rest Because They've Gone Insane

It's been a nightmare season in Queens, yet the Mets are deciding to start one of their biggest injury risks on short rest.

All season long, watching the Mets has been like watching a car slowly crash into a wall and burst into flames. Perhaps no team has been so staggered by injuries as this year's New York squad; just take a look at this press release sent out today, which lists four different players undergoing season-ending surgeries. The Mets are so bereft of bodies that they're playing Jose Reyes in the outfield and signing fringe veterans like Nori Aoki. And thanks to all those maladies and disabled list stays, they've completely collapsed since the All-Star break, going 19–31 in the second half and a sob-inducing 10–23 since the start of August.

At 20 games under .500 and on pace to lose nearly 100 games, the Mets have long ago thrown this season in the trash. But if there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the team can now focus squarely on 2018 and start preparing for next year by assuring its stars reach the end of this season intact. After all, given that the Mets fell out of contention weeks ago, there's no reason to push anyone, right? Well, manager Terry Collins apparently has other ideas.

Matt Harvey will start on Wednesday on short rest. TC says he wanted to get back on the mound as soon as possible.

— Steve Gelbs (@SteveGelbs) September 4, 2017

I'm sure that, somewhere deep down, Collins and the rest of the Mets' braintrust have a reason—one they think is a good one—to start a pitcher who has missed most of the season with an arm injury and has already undergone Tommy John surgery once in his career and is vitally important to any chance of success next year on short rest. But then again, this is the same group of men who thought it was a good idea for Harvey to throw 70 pitches in two innings on Saturday against Houston in his first major league start since June, so it's more likely that this dumpster fire of a season has simply broken Collins' brain. That, or he's actively trying to get fired so he doesn't have to keep watching this team play.