MLB

Right decisions for Mets could get Manuel fired

Clues are being dispensed. Jose Reyes was hitting third. Jenrry Mejia was being compared with Mariano Rivera. Kelvim Escobar essentially was exiled before even throwing a bullpen session.

Perhaps Jerry Manuel would make these moves and say these things if he had job security. But he doesn’t. So these feel like clues about how he is going to manage the Mets while he still is managing the Mets.

Manuel knows the deal: He has one guaranteed year left on his contract, but not all one-year deals are the same. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has one year left, too, but is not under career duress because he won the World Series last year while Manuel piloted a disaster.

So it is understandable why Manuel is emphasizing a strong start to this season, and not just because the organization wants to quickly flush the stench of 2009 and elevate the confidence in 2010. A strong start also is desperately needed for the 57-year-old Manuel to hold on to what probably is his last major league managing job.

“If we don’t get off good, I will be a target,” Manuel said. “I cannot react to that because I know it is

162 games. We need to win those early games, but not at the expense of jeopardizing the entire season. You can’t go bankrupt early.”

That is what he says, and general manager Omar Minaya and top lieutenant, John Ricco, both agree, stating that Manuel is a veteran baseball man who would not put his own situation ahead of what is best for the team. But self-preservation is our most powerful instinct, making folks behave in ways they might not be consciously aware of.

Manuel has not run away from his predicament. As is his wont, he has kidded about tip-toeing on the quicksand. He laughed recently in acknowledging “I am both of those,” referring to crazy and desperate when it comes to strategy. Was that gallows humor or real signs that he knows standard operating procedure might not save him?

For example, Manuel always has had a hunch that Reyes is a third-place hitter. But if he were secure in his job, would Manuel be pushing that role now with Reyes coming back from a traumatic injury and Carlos Beltran due to return in May? But being around in May and/or seeing Beltran back on the field are not assured to him. It also now will be fascinating if Manuel sticks with the No. 3 option if and when Reyes returns from his thyroid issue.

Should a veteran baseball man really be fueling comparisons between Mejia and Rivera; a 20-year-old who is 0-5 with a 4.47 ERA in his only 10 games above A-ball and the greatest closer ever? The accepted practice is to lower expectations around a prospect as talented, but as crude as Mejia.

Nevertheless, Manuel just might want to convince his bosses to speed up Mejia’s clock. He has been quite open that his biggest concern is finding a dependable setup man in front of Francisco Rodriguez.

In the past, Manuel might have kept hope alive that Escobar could work through his shoulder problems and be ready for the season. This spring, though, he flushed that notion before exhibition games even had begun. He simply does not have time for pipe dreams, and with just five innings pitched in the last two years Escobar was a pipe dream to him.

Next up is Ryota Igarashi, who has thrown no major league innings in his career. Then Bobby Parnell, who did not overly impress Manuel last season. And then Kiko Calero, who was just signed in the last week because major league teams were concerned about his health.

So you can see why if Manuel is going to play Russian Roulette with his career, he would prefer to gamble with his most talented option, Mejia. Nevertheless, Minaya said that “unless a kid really separates himself,” then the plan is to send a Mejia or an Ike Davis to the minors to follow a more familiar development plan.

But can Manuel, the also-shaky Minaya and the Mets, in general, really wait for, say, Mejia to be a gift in July, perhaps even to replace an Oliver Perez or John Maine in the rotation?

The early-season schedule projects as problematic for all involved. The Mets play 16 of their first 22 games and 22 of their first 34 at home. It probably would have best suited these Mets to be on the road often early to try to build some positive momentum away from a home stadium likely to have an embarrassingly high number of empty seats and a quick-trigger hostility, both based on the disillusionment that lingers from last year.

Mets fans would be more excited and, probably, tolerant if they saw a Mejia and/or a Davis out there. And it is not impossible that Manuel knows this. Because you should not discount how badly ownership wants to avoid the humiliation of a serious dip in attendance in Year 2 of Citi Field and a ratings dive for the team-owned network.

Both are likelihoods now, and both can worsen if the Mets cannot successfully navigate what appears an onerous early schedule. They play nearly half (12) of their first 25 games against the four 2009 NL playoff teams (Phillies, Dodgers, Cardinals, Rockies). And just three of those first 25 games (vs. Washington) are against a team that had a losing record last year. Through June 6, the Mets play just one team at home (six games vs. Washington) that had a losing record last year.

That June 6 date seems the longest Manuel has to make a strong imprint on this season. The next day is the draft and the Mets have the seventh-overall pick (one of the few gifts from a terrible 2009). It is a moment, if the Mets are reeling, when ownership could sell the future in a stronger way and serve up Manuel as a sacrificial scapegoat for the past.

joel.sherman@nypost.com