As somebody who regularly threw high-90s heat for the Mets and ultimately needed Tommy John surgery, Billy Wagner has some advice for Matt Harvey: Get the surgery.
The former Mets closer told The Post on Wednesday that Harvey likely is just delaying the inevitable by trying to rehab the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow instead of immediately undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“You can get it done now and be done with it, and the rehab is not a hard rehab,” said Wagner, who underwent Tommy John surgery with the Mets in September 2008 and returned to the club 11 months later.
On Tuesday, the Mets said Harvey will begin a rehab program that lasts 6-8 weeks, after which a determination will be made about potential surgery. The danger, from the Mets’ perspective, is the 24-year-old Harvey will emerge symptom-free from his rehab and forgo the surgery, but then suffer a later setback that will cost him not only most or all of 2014, but potentially part of ’15.
Wagner attempted to go the rehab route with the Mets after a partial tear of the UCL was diagnosed, but recalled that plan lasted all of two weeks. After incurring stiffness in his elbow during the rehab, Wagner blew out the ligament completely while attempting to pitch a simulated game at Shea Stadium.
The lefty said Harvey’s true test won’t come until he attempts to face live hitters. Merely throwing from flat ground or a bullpen mound won’t be enough to determine if the ligament is sound.
“When I was rehabbing at 80 or 85 percent, I couldn’t tell anything was wrong,” Wagner said. “But as soon as I let it go a little bit, there’s a big difference.”
Wagner said before the complete tear to his UCL, the team’s medical director, Dr. David Altchek, told him Tommy John surgery would be necessary at some point if he intended to continue pitching. Wagner chose to go for broke and let the ligament blow out instead of having surgery for the partial tear.
“What was funny was Altchek said, ‘We knew it was going to happen,’ it was really a matter of how I wanted it to happen,” Wagner said. “If I wanted to go ahead and get the Tommy John before I blew it out, or just go on and blow it out. It worked out fine.”
Both the Mets and Harvey might be better for it, according to Wagner, if the ace right-hander’s UCL tears completely during his rehab.
“If it blew out, it would probably be beneficial to both of them, because then you can just fix it and be done with it,” Wagner said. “Now they are just having that waiting game to see if it’s going to happen. He’s an awesome young kid and the way the arm is, you come back better most times.”
Wagner, after his return to the Mets, was traded to the Red Sox for the final month of the 2009 season. He then signed with the Braves and was still hitting 97 mph on the radar gun when he announced his retirement the following year.
Wagner said Harvey would be taking a big risk if he pitches next season with the ligament torn.
“If he goes out there and tries to push through or you get somebody who doesn’t really know what they’re talking about, and they’re telling him to push through it a little bit, all that garbage he doesn’t need to deal with,” Wagner said. “He’s not going to be able to go out there and throw 115 pitches and five days later not think about it, because it’s going to hurt. I would just do [the surgery] and be done with it.”