The countdown begins now.
In three weeks Mets fans may know whether star pitcher Matt Harvey will be having Tommy John surgery to repair the torn UCL in his right arm or if he's going to just keep pitching. Sandy Alderson said today that the team is going to wait about three weeks to see how the injury responds to rehab. When those three weeks are up, a decision is likely to be made.
The Mets don't want to wait too long to decide on Tommy John surgery, because the sooner the procedure is done, the sooner Harvey can get back to pitching again. Of course, no matter when the decision is made, Tommy John surgery would likely knock Harvey out for the entire 2014 season.
It's not impossible for a pitcher to be able to work with a partially torn UCL without undergoing Tommy John surgery, but it's not likely either. New York and may want to opt for surgery now so that Harvey is ready for 2015 rather than risk having the operation later and further delaying the impending Mets renaissance.