PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets would rather have Johan Santana take a spring break than summer vacation.
Though Terry Collins hasn’t eliminated the possibility the lefty will begin the season with the Mets, the manager yesterday further lessened expectations by saying Santana is on a “day-by-day” schedule for spring training and won’t necessarily make his Grapefruit League debut next week, as originally planned.
Santana was absent from team workouts yesterday before the Mets’ 9-6 exhibition victory over the Astros, because he needed extra treatment on his shoulder following a throwing session on Friday, according to Collins.
“When he’s ready, he’s ready,” Collins said, when asked about Santana’s upcoming schedule.
Collins indicated he spoke with Santana — who is attempting to build up strength in the shoulder — about not trying to overextend himself just for the sake of starting the season with the club. Last week Santana angered club officials by throwing off a mound ahead of schedule.
Collins said he told Santana a few missed starts early in the season are insignificant in regard to the big picture.
“Day 1, Day 10 means nothing to me right now,” Collins said. “His health means everything to me, so we’re back to the pace we were on last year, because I want the guy that left here last year.”
Pitching coach Dan Warthen said no date has been set as a deadline for Santana to pitch in spring training if he’s going to begin the season with the team.
“We don’t want to rush anything,” Warthen said. “We don’t want to take any chances of getting a setback.”
Jeremy Hefner has emerged as the clear front-runner to join the rotation if Santana isn’t ready. Hefner pitched three scoreless innings yesterday at Tradition Field for a third outing in his last four without surrendering a run. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA this spring.
“The [Santana] situation will take care of itself, but I’m directly impacted by that, I would assume,” Hefner said. “If they want to take me to New York because Johan is hurt or if Johan is healthy and I need to go to [Triple-A] Las Vegas, whatever is best for the team, obviously they will make that call.”
Collins is eyeing a potential April 7 start against the Marlins for Hefner. Jon Niese would be the Mets’ Opening Day starter on April 1 against the Padres at Citi Field if Santana isn’t ready.
“If we need a guy, we know [Hefner] is going to be ready,” Collins said.
Hefner is scheduled to pitch four innings on Friday against the Braves, who should provide stiffer competition than the anemic Astros.
“I’ve got that circled on my calendar,” Hefner said. “I want to see how my stuff is right now, because [the Braves] are the type of team we’re going to face during the year, so that will be a good barometer for me to judge on.”