The competitor in Billy Wagner would love to say he’ll return late next season and help the Mets win a championship. But Wagner isn’t about to make a hollow guarantee. He knows he’s done with the Mets.
A day after Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his left elbow, Wagner chatted with The Post from his home in Greenwich, Conn., and spoke of his Mets career in the past tense.
“I’ve played my last day as a Met, that’s the way it goes,” Wagner said.
Wagner said he wasn’t feeling much pain, to his elbow or the knee from which doctors extracted a tendon to help repair his elbow, and was comforted by hospital visits on Wednesday from Moises Alou and Scott Schoeneweis. The estimated 12-month recovery phase has begun.
It was Schoeneweis, perhaps his closest friend on the team, who visited Wagner at home yesterday and offered to drive him to Shea Stadium for the rest of the season. Wagner is planning to make some appearances.
“It’s something that will just show I’m thinking about the team,” Wagner said. “I’m there for them, hoping they get a ring.”
Wagner, who has a year remaining on the $43 million contract he signed before the 2006 season, spoke matter-of-factly about how much he’ll miss New York and performing for the Mets. Though the team holds an $8 million option on Wagner for 2010, the lefty has no illusions that it will be picked up.
Where will he land? The 37-year-old Wagner, who has 385 career saves, has considered that question.
“It’s going to be hard to find that team that gives you a chance to get 400 saves and gives you a shot to win a championship when you’re coming back from major surgery,” said Wagner, who wants to remain a closer. “There are not going to be too many people beating down my door.”
Is Wagner disappointed he won’t help open the Citi Field era next season?
“It’s not something I’ll go to bed worried about,” Wagner said. “To me, it’s more about this year, because I really think this team has a chance to win the World Series.”
Wagner loved his eight-plus seasons pitching for the Astros and put his Mets experience on the same level.
As strange as it was speaking of his Mets career in the past tense, Wagner said it’s time he came to grips with the situation.
“I’ve always tried to take on everything straight on,” he said. “There’s no use sitting here and saying, ‘Geez, I could always make this miraculous recovery and pitch in August and September.’ I’m going to let the thing work itself out and see where it takes me.”
mpuma@nypost.com