Matt Harvey Wins — Rehab in New York

Matt Harvey has reportedly won his battle with the Mets — he will rehab in New York, just like he wanted. But he will also spend some time in dreary Port St. Lucie, as the Mets desired.

Sources tell ESPN New York on Monday that Harvey will do his initial rehab work in New York, but when he is ready to face live hitters, he will head on down to Florida. Harvey also wanted to accompany the team on road trips, but that is apparently not part of the agreement with the team.

This was actually a fight that Harvey could not lose. According to the CBA, a player cannot be kept at a team’s spring training facility for more than 20 days without his consent. And there was no way Matt Harvey was going to consent to that.

So Harvey gets his wish. He wants to be around his teammates (and presumably, around New York, home to countless supermodels), and he should be commended for that. By all appearances, Matt Harvey wants to be a leader on this team, and leaders just do not disappear for a year.

The Mets will now have to deal with Harvey being a constant story, unless of course the Mets start to win, giving the media something else to write about. We can dream, can’t we?