On Terry Collins and Matt Harvey

Terry Collins is by far the best manager that the New York Mets have had in the past decade. Taking a struggling team and developing the clubhouse mindset into a team that expected to be in contention each season, Collins was only second manager to lead the Mets into back to back post-season appearances. The one decision that he made that’s been debated since the Mets 2015 appearance in the World Series, and probably will still be debated until the team gets there again, was his handling of Matt Harvey. Harvey, with the Mets staring at a 3-1 series deficit to the Kansas City Royals, had the pitching performance of his life through eight innings. Harvey argued to stay in to finish the game in the ninth, and got his way as he re-entered the diamond to a roaring Citi Field crowd. This was supposed to be the moment that positioned Harvey in Mets lore forever, but it turned into the beginning of the end for him as the Royals tied the game in the ninth and never looked back en route to the World Series victory. Harvey never looked like the same dominant pitcher, and was off of the Mets by 2018.

Everyone watching the game at the time, drunk off of the adrenaline of his performance so far, wanted Harvey to remain in the game. As we all know now, that turned out to be a wrong decision by Collins, and an infamous mishandling of one of his players. It’s not often that you see a manager mishandle the same player on such a grand stage, but Colins did just that earlier this week. No, it wasn’t under the bright lights of the World Series, but dripped into the backpages of a bleak New York Post article.

On Tuesday, Harvey testified against former Angels Communications Director Eric Kay, who was found guilty of distributing Fentanyl to pitcher Tyler Skaggs, which led to his death. During his time on the stand, Harvey talked about his personal drug use, which not only happened during his time with the Angels, but in New York with the Mets as well. While there were issues with Harvey being a partier impacting his playing ability while in New York, the actual extent of his drug usage was never made public until he testified under immunity on Tuesday.

Immunity in the court of law does not transition over to immunity in the court of public opinion however, and while live tweets of the trial were going out on Tuesday, so were the reaction of fans. Not surprisingly, fans quickly jumped on the notion that Harvey’s usage impacted his playing career. As someone who grew up waiting for Harvey Day to happen as the clock ran down on school or a summer job, it was a tough blow to see a one-time hero get torn for personal issues like that. Of course, that must have paled in comparison to what Harvey must have been going through.

Which makes it even more disappointing that his manager, Collins would go on the record to talk about personal discussions that he had with Harvey about the issues he was having. The fact that Collins even lent a quote to a New York Post article with the disgusting, click-bait driven headline Matt Harvey Talked About Killing Himself While with The Mets is beyond disappointing. To further go on in the article and state that Matt saying he wanted to commit suicide was a “common excuse” for his performances was even more troubling. Collins later went on to say that the Mets tried to get him help and point him in a better direction.

Of course, Harvey must take responsibility for the actions that he took, and if another MLB team offers him the opportunity to play, he will by virtue of a potential 60 day suspension imposed by the league for distributing drugs in the clubhouse. To receive gut punches in the form of exposure from a former leader however? Nobody deserves that.

Collins, due to his age and comfortable spots on SNY studio shows, is most likely never going to manage again. If he were to manage again however, he’d have issues winning a clubhouse over due to how he so openly exposed a former player. While the wins that he brought to the franchise can’t be tainted, his reputation amongst the players certainly can be.

While his dominance on the mound looked like it showed otherwise, Harvey’s sudden ascension to fame and New York City stardom was not easy. The trial of Eric Kay has given us a deeper glimpse of how he handled the pressures that were thrown his way. While it might be easy for fans who watch the game from the stands or on our screens to chalk his career up to “He just blew it,” the fact is that things must have been difficult. Not only did he have to deal with the massive fame that came with his early career dominance in the country’s largest media market, but he had his every action as a superstar scrutinized against that of David Wright, the team’s ultimate, do-no-wrong star. These personal issues that stacked up as Harvey’s star slowly burned dim could have, and should have remained an issue that was private to Harvey and the team. It’s truly disappointing that Collins spoke so freely about these issues, and should be remembered as part of his legacy.