As most baseball fans know, things got ugly this past week in New York when the Mets unceremoniously cut ties with their one-time superstar right-hander Matt Harvey after both sides aired out their dirty laundry publicly in today’s social-media-driven breaking news world.

At the heart of the matter was the fact that the 29-year-old New London, Connecticut native and Mets 2010 first-round draft pick out of the University of North Carolina, was having an absolutely abysmal season with an 0-2 record and horrible 7.00 ERA through his first eight appearances (four starts) this season. In fact, the 6′-4″ / 215-pound former All-Star has given up six home runs, walked nine, and struck out only 20 through his 27 innings of work during the first month of the season for a less-than-stellar 1.556 WHIP, for which he had been relegated to the Mets bullpen.

But the coup de grâce was when Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told his one-time star right-hander that they were sending him to Triple-A Las Vegas in an attempt to right his ship, which Harvey (through his agent, baseball’s antichrist Scott Boras) flat out refuse to accept. Apparently the young right-hander felt that he did not deserve (or, in his mind, was too good) to be shipped out to baseball’s second-highest level; this in spite of his Triple-A-worthy numbers or accepting the fact that he desperately needs to fix whatever it is that’s broken.

After a week of unpleasant back-and-forth dialog which, as noted, mysteriously found its way onto social media, the Mets designated Harvey and his one-year / $5.625 million contract (which he signed on January 12, 2018 to avoid arbitration) for assignment on Saturday, thus terminating the tumultuous relationship between the two parties.

Apparently Matt Harvey felt that he was too good to be sent back down to the minors, although his numbers suggested otherwise. (Photo courtesy of Larry Brown Sports)

Enter 38-year-old Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill.

Although there are zero similarities between the extremely popular and polite Boston, Massachusetts native and Matt Harvey, and I mean absolutely zero, following Friday evening’s 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at Estadio de Béisbol in Monterrey, Mexico, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the media that the 6′-5″ / 220-pound – 14-year MLB veteran would not make his previously scheduled start against those same Padres on Sunday afternoon and would instead go with right-hander Ross Stripling.

The Dodgers skipper cited that they (the Dodgers trainers and medical staff) were concerned about Hill’s history with blisters and cracked fingernails in the 83 percent average annual humidity of Mexico’s third most populated city.

“We just want to give Rich some extra time with the finger, and with the humidity and where we’re at, decided to go the other way,” Roberts told reporters. “We’re going to buy Rich extra time. Just where we’ve come, in his mound work he hasn’t thrown a ton of curveballs. He threw 66 pitches five days ago. We just felt it was prudent.”

According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, there are still concerns over Rich Hill’s finger. According to Rich Hill, there are none. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Au contraire, the veteran lefty told the media on Sunday evening – although not in a Matt-Harvey-manner.

“Nothing’s wrong, they just decided to go with Strip,” Hill said. “I’ve been good to go. I was scheduled for tomorrow, they made the decision to go with Strip.”

Of course, there is another glaring difference between the crybaby that is Matt Harvey and the ultimate professional that is Rich Hill – money.

In December of 2016, Hill signed a three-year / $48 million contract that paid him $12 million in 2017, will pay him $16 million this season, and will pay him $18 million in 2019, finger issues – actual or otherwise – notwithstanding.

Although I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, consider this. When Hill experienced blister issues on his left middle finger last season (and in seasons past), he readily showed his (rather gross) blistered finger to the media. However, when he landed on the 10-day disabled list earlier this season with what was called a “cracked fingernail” on that same finger, it appeared nowhere in photographs or on video. And even though it has long been a common practice for major league teams to put guys on the DL for so-called “phantom injuries,” Hill made it abundantly clear that he is (was) “good to go” on Sunday, suggesting that this may fall into that phantom injury category.

With the recent loss of fellow left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu to the 10-day DL (which at some point will probably be changed to the 60-day DL), rookie right-hander Walker Buehler is all but guaranteed a permanent spot in the Dodgers starting rotation; especially after his historic start on Friday in the Dodgers first (and MLB’s 11th) combined no-hitter, also in Monterrey, Mexico. And while the common take is that Buehler will simply slide into Ryu’s spot in the Dodgers five-man rotation, where does this leave Rich Hill?

One thing is for certain, however. The extremely likable Boston native won’t be going to Triple-A Oklahoma City … except perhaps for a phantom rehab assignment for his phantom bad finger.

Stay tuned…