Kevin Kernan

Kevin Kernan

MLB

Mets risk alienating Harvey if they slow his rehab too much

Slow down, young buck. Time really is on your side.

In more ways than you know, Matt Harvey.

Sandy Alderson made it crystal clear Tuesday night at Citi Field that the Mets’ young ace will spend the rest of the season on the sidelines and in the bullpen, there is just too much to risk accelerating Harvey’s rehab from Tommy John surgery, especially in light of Jeremy Hefner’s terrible arm injury during his Tommy John rehab.

And the Mets general manager is correct.

“Just a tough, tough development for him,’’ Alderson said of Hefner, before spinning the story forward to Harvey.

“We’re disappointed for [Hefner] and he worked hard to get back to where he was; his is a cautionary story for others, including Matt Harvey, I think,’’ Alderson said. “So while Jeremy’s occurrence is unusual, it points out that those kinds of things can happen. If nothing else, what may come out of it is that others, including Matt and others may be a little more careful about how aggressive they become in their rehabilitation.’’

Alderson might as well have said: “This seat on the bench is for you, Matt.’’

It all is for his own protection.

The Mets can never forget, though, that Harvey is a different animal. He is more competitive than every other pitcher in their system. So while they are right to slow him down to make sure time does heal his pitching wounds, they also must be careful not to frustrate him to no end.

Ultimately, time is on Harvey’s side.

In the big picture, Harvey becomes a free agent in 2019 and if he does not like the way this ballclub is run, he will jump to the Yankees or some other team.

The Mets need to get Harvey completely healthy, keep him healthy and let him be the heart and soul of this team and build around him in such a way he wants to remain a Met his entire career.

All that is an uphill battle right now.

Both sides start with a fresh slate come 2015, but the Mets really need to start acting like they are going to use all their young pitching to gain an NL East advantage. They need to increase payroll, they need to get a big hitter, maybe trade a young gun for another bat.

Harvey, if all continues to go well in his rehab, will be ready to go next Opening Day, make no mistake.

Will the Mets be ready?

Alderson said he has no idea about next year’s payroll at this point.

The Mets had better get an idea. Spend some money.

A big dose of reality hit them smack in the face Tuesday night as the first-place Nationals clubbed the Mets, 7-1 at Citi Field, smashing four home runs along the way, three against Rafael Montero, who was called up to replace sore-shouldered Jacob deGrom.

The Nationals have what the Mets don’t have, strong young hitters.

The fourth-place 57-63 Mets can’t get to .500 so there is no sense pretending, like some, that the Mets are in the wild-card race. Get to .500 first.

Alderson said he has talked to Harvey and the goal is to get him, by the end of this season, to a place where he is “comfortable going into next season.”

“Just throwing bullpens the rest of the season may be enough,’’ Alderson said. “We may throw something else in there.’’

Suffice it to say Harvey is getting nowhere near a major league mound this season with the Mets.

Alderson laughed and said: “I don’t think so. I haven’t thought so and don’t at this point either. … Parts of the body need a certain amount of time to heal. We don’t know exactly what that time may be in cases of elbows or shoulders but intuition would tell you, ‘look, let’s take a little longer and make sure that we’re not rushing this thing.’ ”

In the end, time is on Matt Harvey’s side.