Report: Matt Harvey Will File Grievance Against Mets For Unpaid Suspension

Matt Harvey plans to file a grievance over his unpaid three-day suspension, per a report from Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.

Only a few hours before Harvey’s scheduled start today, the team announced that he had been suspended for three days effective yesterday, thanks to a “violation of club rules.” There has been no further official comment from the club on the situation, though manager Terry Collins noted that they thought it was clear that baseball wasn’t Harvey’s “top priority” right now.

According to Heyman, the suspension stems from the fact that Harvey didn’t show up to the ballpark yesterday. (In and of itself, this shouldn’t be particularly notable—it’s fairly common for a day game starter to skip out early during a night game on the evening before he’s scheduled to pitch, and it wouldn’t be too remarkable to skip the game altogether with valid communication.) Harvey reportedly played golf Saturday morning, developed a headache early Saturday afternoon, and told the team that he wasn’t feeling well. He then showed up Sunday morning ready to pitch, only to be told he was suspended.

That reporting has been echoed by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports:

There are a lot of questions with the story as it’s been presented so far, namely why the team would bother to suspend him over what is being reported as such a relatively small and simple offense—especially when it meant forcing him to miss a start, with the club’s rotation in shambles and Harvey still working through the recovery process for his thoracic outlet syndrome. There is no question, however, about the Mets’ incredible ability to repeatedly turn what should seemingly be fairly minor issues into public relations disasters.