By Ernie PalladinoMatt Harvey and Sonny Gray may have plenty of problems on the mound, but most of them come between the ears.
Unless they get their heads straightened out, it's a good bet their futures in a Mets or Yankees uniform run out at or before the end of the regular season.
If nothing changes, the Mets will probably let Harvey walk into free agency, which means they'll get nothing back for losing the once-great power pitcher who has now plummeted to a bullpen role. It's hard to believe anybody would give up anything substantial for either of them as a second-half rental, especially for a 28-year-old Gray whose 8.27 ERA sits among the three worst pitchers in the majors with at least four starts.
Both spent considerable time working on their mechanics during spring training, Harvey at refining his curve and changeup and Gray working on his control. But both appear to have abandoned whatever strides they made in the warmth of the Grapefruit League schedule.
MORE: Top Prospect Gleyber Torres Makes MLB Debut As Yankees Go Young
Though there is little doubt the April chill has helped put both men in a deep freeze, a lot of their problems have to do with what's going on inside the old noggin. Between Harvey's defiance and Gray's lack of confidence, there's enough mental anguish going around to keep a shrink busy for a year.
Harvey's problem comes part and parcel with his personality. He refuses to believe he's a different pitcher than he was in 2015, when a 13-8 record and 2.71 ERA behind a great fastball-slider combination became a big reason behind the Mets going to the World Series. Thoracic outlet syndrome surgery the following year, coupled with Tommy John surgery that kept him off the mound in 2014, necessarily forced a change in style.
But Harvey, with his typical and often misguided determination -- remember how he argued his way back into Game 5 of the World Series against the Royals and promptly imploded? -- hasn't exactly embraced the idea of changing.
Not his style, not his job.
MORE: Mets Icon Ed Kranepool Awaits 'Miracle' Donor Match
He still relies too much on a fastball that no longer has the consistent 95-mph zip on it. Unlike the Yanks' CC Sabathia, who successfully and willingly went from power to guile because of a degenerative knee, Harvey continues to try to power his way through innings.
It didn't work in Thursday's start in Atlanta, where he put his team in a 6-0 hole before settling down his final three innings.
Also typical, he used those final good innings to justify keeping his spot in the rotation, then just about hit the roof when manager Mickey Callaway told him to take his 0-2 record and 6.00 ERA to the bullpen as a corrective measure.
It's Harvey's overall arrogance that gets in his way, not the curve or changeup.
He simply needs to get a little humble so he can embrace change. He hasn't come close to that yet. He may never get there. So the Mets will likely be glad to let him walk into free agency at year's end unless the right-hander undergoes some magical transformation between now and then.
As for Gray, he's beginning to look like another in a line of acquisitions who simply can't pitch in New York. The Yanks prized the former A's ace so much last year that they gave up three good prospects for him in a July 31 trade.
Since then, he's gone 5-8, 4.63 with 12 homers in 15 starts.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild fooled around with his windup after his third start, a three-inning, six-run outing in Boston. But for all the degrees and arm angle and other stuff they worked on, the effort produced no better than five runs in 3 1/3 innings in Friday's 8-5 loss to Toronto.
It would be a shame if Gray turned into another Ed Whitson, a solid enough right-hander with the Padres who came to the Yanks as a prized free agent in 1985 only to spend an anguished year and a half in pinstripes before they traded him back to San Diego in July 1986.
Whitson did fashion a 15-10 record while he was here. But that was more because of the offense, as he compiled a career-worst 5.38 ERA with 24 homers in 34 starts and 10 relief appearances. The abuse from the stands was so bad that he sent his wife and child back home.
Gray may have the same problem, minus the family issues. He never encountered in Oakland the boos that accompanied his fourth-inning departure Friday after giving up a two-run lead to Toronto.
Boone noted he doesn't think it's anything physical, which means it's mental. Whether that involves a distaste for the way Gary Sanchez catches him or simply the expectations of a city that scrutinizes every move a player makes, it doesn't really matter.
The fact is Gray hasn't been effective. And he needs to contribute if the Yanks are going to break out of their early-season slumber. Especially since No. 2 man Masahiro Tanaka is struggling.
Mechanics aren't the problem for Gray and Harvey. It's what's going on inside their heads that needs changing.
Until that happens, neither pitcher holds much value for their teams, either as roster members or future trade bait.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
