Matt Moves On

There were times during Matt Harvey's Mets tenure that he appeared ready to write his name in team history alongside such beloved Flushing names as Seaver, Koosman, Gooden and Darling. But his star-crossed history at Flushing produced flashes of brilliance, amidst career-changing injuries, bouts of ineffectiveness and occasional less than-Boy Scout grade behavior.
After a stumbling start and off-field issues, the Mets traded him to the Reds last May. Pitching out of the limelight and New York's more aggressive media, the onetime Dark Knight found his footing again, finishing 7-7 and claiming a spot among the second-tier starting pitchers in this winter's free agent class.
Now, he's on his way to Anaheim, having signed a one-year deal with the Angels, who will try again to build a contender around cornerstones Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and the DH-only version of Shohei Ohtani. The money is relatively modest; the tenure short, as Harvey tries to work himself back into the conversation among baseball's better pitchers with the possibility of a bigger and longer payoff a year from now.
(My image of Harvey is from the Mets/Phillies game on April 10th, 2016.)

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