By Brian Bielanski, Lead Stories Contributor
I woke up this morning to two stories I just can't figure out. The first is the decision by the Philadelphia Eagles to cut Tim Tebow and then sign a guy that has never started a game in the NFL and wasn't good enough to make the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad. The second is the decision to shut down New York Mets' pitcher Matt Harvey because he has pitched too many innings after having Tommy John surgery.
Why in the world would the Eagles cut a guy who performed pretty well throughout the pre-season just to bring in a guy off another team's practice squad who's never seen the playbook or played a down in your system? I'm not a Tebow fan or a Tebow hater. He seems like a good guy and good role model potential, but more importantly he's worked his tail off and shown a huge amount of improvement. He's also started and won games in the NFL. He has to be better prepared than Stephen Morris. Lord knows (see what I did there) they'll sell a bunch of Tebow jerseys.
Thanks @Eagles and Coach Kelly for giving me the opportunity to play the game I love! Romans 8:28 #Blessed
-- Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) September 5, 2015
Then in New York, you have a pitcher who is on a 180 inning limit because he's coming off Tommy John Surgery. I get that, but what I don't get is how once again the team, the player, his doctors and agent have so completely botched the management of the inning limit. Why not have him skip a start every month so you have him available for the stretch run and the playoffs?
I don't get the idea of getting to September 1st and having to shut a guy down when the team is in the playoff hunt. Bring up a prospect in April and May and pitch the guy every third start. It gives the prospect some experience in the big show and gets your veteran to September where he's useful. I can't imagine pitching on a chilly night in Queens in April is good for a guy coming off Tommy John surgery. Skipping starts early makes much more sense than skipping starts late.
.@MattHarvey33 has pitched at least 6 innings in 30 consecutive home starts, the longest stretch in @MLB since 2012. pic.twitter.com/N58PH2WNi6
-- New York Mets (@Mets) September 4, 2015
This isn't the first time it has happened. The Washington Nationals had the same issue in 2012 with Stephen Strasburg. You would have thought the Mets would have learned something from that. Or maybe the Mets figured they wouldn't be in contention in September so they never anticipated a problem.
Brian Bielanski has covered the NFL, NBA, MLB, college football, basketball and baseball, the Final Four, the PGA Tour and motorsports over the past 23 years as a radio talk show host and play-by-play announcer, and as a TV news producer for CNN and CBS.
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