Baseball is a business. There is little denying that the children's game of hitting a cork ball with a wooden bat has become a billion dollar industry at its highest level. According to Forbes magazine's annual analysis of the finances of sports, MLB Teams are now worth $1.2 billion on average and $36 billion collectively. That same Forbes article estimates those guys in the pinstripes across the way are worth $3.2 billion, only a few years after the Los Angeles Dodgers were sold to Magic Johnson and Guggenheim Baseball Management for a record $2 billion.

The Dodgers are the prime suspects (or victims, depending on who you're asking) of baseball's spending spree. In case you've been living under a rock the last few years, Fred Wilpon's favorite team spent $276 billion in payroll this year, absurd amounts of which were spent on players no longer members of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Offsetting these quarter-of-a-billion costs is a record 25-year, $8.35 billion TV deal and 3.78 million regular season fans (2014 numbers) spending sixty bucks a pop. Which is actually pretty cheap considering Red Sox and Yankees tickets go for $140 on average.

And while the Dodgers may be the extreme when it comes to baseball and absorbent amounts money in everything but ticket prices, there is still $34 billion to be shared by the 29 other teams. Baseball is a huge business and, like in any business, with that much money being thrown around it is fiscally prudent to be cautious if you have a shot at getting a nice chunk of the action.

Matthew Edward Harvey's shot won't come until after the 2018 Mets parade down the Canyon of Heroes for the third time in as many years. Other than Harvey's $2.525 million signing bonus, the once and future ace has yet to make seven figures in a single year, something achieved by players of considerable less talent and ability. This is simply the way the MLB works, but it is undoubtedly frustrating for someone of Harvey's skill and competitive nature.

Matt Harvey used to like playing baseball

The rival Nationals recently rewarded Max Scherzer, a player comparable to Harvey in ability and value, with $210 million over the next 7 years. Ten years ago the highest paid pitcher was Mike Hampton, then in the fifth year of his historically abysmal eight year, $121 million contract with the Rockies. Three years ago, CC Sabathia held that honor in the first year of his five-year $122 million extension. Three years from now the best (or smartest or most money hungry) pitcher could sign a contract approaching a quarter billion over seven or eight years, something only achieved so far only by everyday players named Stanton, ARod, ARod again, Cabrera, Pujols, and Cano. If Harvey can make it until the 2018 offseason and perform at the level people believe he can, he will be set for life 250 times over.

So in a year in which he is coming off an eighteen month stint away from baseball thanks to the surgery every pitcher fears and in a situation where 20-30 more innings won't effect his payday a few years down the road, it makes every iota of sense from a normal business perspective for Matt Harvey to call it quits after 180 innings. Or whenever he feels like it.

However, while baseball is undoubtedly a business, it is hardly a normal business.

Baseball rewards players of Harvey's caliber no matter how the act, more or less. But it doesn't necessarily root for or celebrate them. There are additional caveats that do not exist outside of the sports world. If Harvey cares not for his legacy and reputation, then by all means sit your Anthony Recker down for the rest of the season. Preferably somewhere far away where the only view of the game is through a TV screen and all the phone lines are cut.

Harvey, it appears, does care about his legacy and reputation, for what is The Dark Knight without his foes spreading the tale far and wide about how quick and powerful his fists, or in this case fastballs, are. Harvey wants to dominate and he wants to be remembered for it. He's made this very clear in his tenure as a member of the New York Metropolitans.

No one is asking for him to throw away hundreds of millions of dollars. But no one asked him to say he was going to put the rotation on his back and take the Mets to the postseason. No one asked him to complain about the six man rotation. No one asked him to loose his maroon of an agent on the radio circuit, backtracking months of previously agreed upon planning. No one asked for this distraction on the eve of the most important series of the season. No one asked him to stop being the Dark Knight and start being The Riddler; saying one thing and meaning another.

Continuing with the comic book theme, if Batman was an item of footwear he would most likely be a combat boot or a well shined dress shoe with a Batarang hidden in the heal for when he has to be Bruce Wayne. Matt Harvey appears to be a flip flop.

First there was the Jon Rauch-defying bravado which continued through this season and included demands made regarding rehab and his early return last season (respectively approved and denied). Then, just within the last few days, talk of preserving his arm for next year and on, not for October and on. Now, as the Mets flew from Miami to our nation's capital, Harvey has again shifted positions in a Player's Tribune piece (brought to you by Derek Jeter's Edge. Do you have it? Harvey had it, but seemingly lost it for forty-eight hours. Stay tuned to see if he truly has found it again).

So Matt Harvey is a flipflopping, opposite-of-Batman jerkface. Namely, a bum. He hasn't quit on his teammates entirely, but its almost as if he tested the waters of the pool of selfishness. Perfectly justifiable selfishness, but selfishness nonetheless. And sports don't like selfish athletes, especially in a town like New York. See "Anthony, Carmelo". Nor does New York like bums, as exemplified by the tabloids distaste for K-rod and his familial scraps, Roger Clemens and his overall horribleness, and Alex Rodriguez and his pre-2015 failures to do pretty much anything right in the eye of the public besides hitting a baseball far.

Harvey's a bum. He's a bum for talking the talk and then only walking the walk until walking the walk really mattered. But perhaps this only a brief stumble on this walk on which Harvey is supposed to be walking. Nod along if you understand.

He now plans on pitching in the playoffs. At the very least he will be pitching on Tuesday, but for Harvey to win back the hearts, minds, and respect of the New York Metropolitan fanbase and the baseball world he will need to more than just pitch every fifth (or sixth) day from here until the day he is no longer a Met.

He will need to win. For winning is the only cure to bumdomhood.

Win on Tuesday. Dominate. Be Matt Harvey. Keep your stupid agent quiet. Win your next start. Go back to being "the guy" you always claimed to be. Win in the playoffs. As exemplified every day by ARod and the NFL, its hard to win and continued to be considered a bum in the court of public opinion.

In the movie for which Matt Harvey shares a name, there is a crazy man who lays out a plan for a panicking group with shared interests. Residents of Panic City, if you will. The crazy man calls his plan simple. The others think it impossible. I am not the same kind of crazy as said crazy man, but my plan shares some with his, in its theoretical simplicity and practical difficulty.

Its simple, win, you bum of a Dark Knight. Pitch. Shut up and just play baseball. Win. Do it all again. Win until the confetti floats down from above. These past few days will be but a blip on the path to glory. Winning means moving on. Winning means forgetting the last eight years. Winning means that its probably okay if Matt Harvey is a bum.