New York Mets

Report: Mets sent team security to check on Matt Harvey after ballpark no-show

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

Sports Illustrated, SI Wire/Sports Illustrated

Before he was suspended by the Mets, pitcher Matt Harvey was visited by members of the team’s security staff, Fan Rag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports, though the two sides disagree about the nature of the visit.

Harvey was suspended three games on Sunday after failing to show up to the ballpark for Saturday night’s game against the Marlins. Harvey contends that he elected to stay home because he had a severe headache, and texted pitching coach Dan Warthen to say as much. The New York Daily News reported that Harvey’s suspension was for “a compilation of issues dating back to last year.”

Harvey sent Warthen a text sometime between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., Heyman reports, which is after the 3 p.m. deadline to notify the team if a player is unable to make it to the park. The text also should have gone to the training staff, instead of the coaching staff.

Team security showed up to Harvey’s Manhattan apartment around 10 p.m., according to Heyman. “People close to the Mets” say that the visit was check on Harvey’s wellbeing, while Harvey’s belief is that they were checking to see if he really was sick.

“Harvey is said to have answered his own door in his pajamas,” Heyman writes, and “people who’ve spoken to” Harvey say the representatives “quizzed him about about what was going on with him.”

Harvey’s next start will be Friday in Milwaukee. The New York Post’s Mike Puma reports that the team does not want Harvey to start Wednesday in a “hostile environment” at home.