The pitching help that the struggling Mets could use most – three-time Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez – won’t be arriving anytime soon.
GM Omar Minaya told The Post the Mets now expect a strained left hamstring to sideline Martinez until at least the middle of May – and possibly into June.
The Mets originally said Martinez, 36, would miss 4-to-6 weeks after hearing a pop in the hamstring on April 1, just four innings into his season debut, the Mets’ second game.
Although the Mets still describe the injury as a mild strain, Minaya said a return by Martinez before the six-week mark has since been ruled out by the team and its doctors. Martinez has been rehabbing at his home in Miami since the injury.
“We’re definitely going to be more conservative with him,” Minaya told The Post. “With hamstrings, you just never know. We’ve got to be careful.”
That means Brooklyn-born Nelson Figueroa will continue to fill in for Martinez because Minaya said the Mets – despite signing ex-Brewer Claudio Vargas last week – plan no imminent changes to their rotation in the face of a 5-6 start.
The Mets, who open a three-game series with the Nationals tonight at Shea Stadium after losing two in a row to the Brewers over the weekend, certainly could use the boost a healthy Martinez provides.
The Milwaukee series was disconcerting because it showed what was supposed to be the Mets’ biggest strength – their starting pitching – could be a weakness.
Not only did $137.5 million ace Johan Santana get clubbed for three home runs in Saturday’s loss, but Martinez’s replacement in the No. 2 spot, Oliver Perez, also got blasted Sunday while blowing a 6-2 lead.
Combined with an offense that has a league-low five homers and is hitting just .182 with runners in scoring position and two out, the Mets aren’t living up to their preseason status as the trendy NL East favorite.
Minaya, though, is preaching patience and plans to back it up by keeping the current roster intact for now. The only change will be bringing reliever Duaner Sanchez off the DL today, most likely in place of fellow reliever Carlos Muniz.
“Except for Sanchez, the pitching staff is going to stay the same,” Minaya said.
The Mets can only hope that staff starts living up to its credentials. The team’s 3.84 ERA is in the middle of the pack, which amounts to a disappointment in the decidedly weaker NL.
Minaya held a closed-door meeting with Willie Randolph after Sunday’s ugly, 9-7 loss and said he planned another meeting of the team’s braintrust yesterday to discuss the state of the Mets.
For now, however, Minaya is remaining optimistic.
“We’re basically playing .500,” he said. “You’d rather be over .500, but we’re at that level. But a lot of teams are in the same spot. One or two teams are going to take off, and we think we’ll be one of them.”
Minaya also said he isn’t buying into the idea that, because of Randolph’s trademark stoicism, the Mets are in desperate need of a fiery clubhouse leader to shake them out of their recent lethargy.
“Everybody’s on the same page,” Minaya said. “We’ve got some key injuries right now, but we should be able to get better as time goes on.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com