MLB

OMAR KEEPS HURTIN’ AMAZIN’S REP

FOR a little while, yesterday could have been classified as one of the finer days of the Mets’ season.

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Sure, Johan Santana needed surgery and all the Mets received for Billy Wagner were two players Boston considered non-prospects. But at least Santana did not need Tommy John surgery, which would have left a team that does not have a No. 2 starter without its ace for most, if not all, of 2010.

And for an organization scrounging for dollars (see their penny-pinching draft), they did save $3-plus million on Wagner that perhaps could help with the 2010 roster.

As 2009 goes, you could see some sunshine in these news items. And then Omar Minaya held a conference call with reporters.

The Mets had not been letting Minaya speak much publicly since the Tony Bernazard Follies, recognizing — finally — how poor he does in these forums. They had a better strategy worked out this time. Minaya, who usually wings it (poorly), had a few talking points to explain the news of the day, which included that J.J. Putz’s rehab had to be slowed and that Oliver Perez needs further tests on an achy knee.

And rather than let the process go until all questions were exhausted, which is normally the Mets’ policy, media relations head Jay Horwitz ended the session after just 12 minutes, 20 seconds.

Or 12 minutes, 20 seconds too late. Because in that brief period, Minaya revealed he did not remember Santana had an elbow injury in spring that nearly cost him an Opening Day start. “Spring training … was such a long time ago,” he said. Yeah, it was about 20 inexplicable injuries ago.

Minaya said he could not remember what the All-Star break medical evaluation of Santana’s sore elbow showed. And he also said he had a call in, but had yet to talk to Santana about the results of yesterday’s test (imagine, say, Theo Epstein saying any of this about Josh Beckett; right, inconceivable).

But the biggest issue is Minaya really couldn’t explain letting Santana continue pitching with discomfort in his elbow for a non-contender. Minaya offered a combination of gibberish and incompetence that has now become the 2009 Mets soundtrack.

Santana tried to save the day later in his own conference call, praising the Mets’ care and downplaying the severity because he had a similar problem in 2003 that he pitched through. But in 2003, the Twins were pushing for an AL Central title and, at 24, he did not have years of wear on him since he had just become a full-time starter in midseason and Minnesota let him average just five innings in five September starts.

At age 30 and with his team out of contention, Santana was admirable that he wanted to continue to pitch, though he was hurt enough that he had not thrown between-start bullpen sessions in months. The Mets’ front office, therefore, had to be the adult in the relationship and shut him down. They were the ones who had to make the decision, not leave it up to the uber-competitive Santana. He is so vital to 2010 that the Mets should have been overcautious with him under those circumstances. Instead, he continued pitching and finally the pain became too much.

Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran also were allowed to go back on the field and worsen injuries. Is this about a culture from the Wilpons down that pushes hurting players to keep selling tickets? If not, the Mets must determine why this keeps happening.

For the item that might be most irreparably injured for these Mets is their reputation.

joel.sherman@nypost.com