Harvey could be out of time to regain form & stay a Met

At this point the Mets have to be brutally honest with themselves about Matt Harvey. That is, they can’t count on him for next season any more than they can count on David Wright. This latest return to the mound has been especially ominous, as Harvey has been practically non-competitive in starts against the Astros and Cubs, while managing to get through five innings in a decent outing against the lowly Reds. Terry Collins continues to preach patience, going so far on Wednesday night as to say, “It’s not about winning or losing right now” for Harvey. But that type of excuse-making doesn’t fly anymore, because it’s not as if the onetime ace is coming back from surgery here. In fact, it has been nearly 15 months since surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, and Harvey still can’t pitch with the command necessary to win in the big leagues. The two-plus months he missed most recently for what the Mets called a stress injury to his scapula has restored some velocity, as Harvey hit 96 mph on the radar gun a couple of times in Chicago Wednesday night, but there’s no strikeout-inducing life on his fastball, and hitters barely react to his slider anymore. An NL scout who was in Chicago to observe the Cubs as a potential playoff opponent couldn’t help but notice the lack of quality pitches Harvey threw during his 3.1 innings, during which he allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks — while getting two strikeouts. “His best pitch was his change-up,’’ the scout said. “But he doesn’t have the command or the deception to reinvent himself as a finesse pitcher. Honestly, I don’t know where he goes from here.” That’s the heart of the matter at the moment. What reason is there to believe Harvey is going to improve significantly with more starts — or be any better than this next season? The one caveat here, at least for me, is that Harvey finally stopped with all the psycho-babble we’ve heard after his starts this season. Instead of pretending to look for positivity that wasn’t there, he spoke with genuine emotion about his frustration and even anger after the start in Chicago. And when a reporter reminded him of how positive he’d been after getting pounded in Houston in his first start back, Harvey cut him off. “I’m not talking about two starts ago,’’ he snapped. “This is now. This is how I feel now. I just have to be better. There’s not much else to say.” Seconds later Harvey cut off another question, saying, “There’s nothing else to say about today’s outing. It was terrible.”

This sounded a lot more like the Harvey who once was so demanding of himself, when he pitched with dominance. To me it sounded like he finally stopped following whatever advice he was getting from some sports psychologist, or whoever he has been talking to him.

And maybe that’s what he needs. The Mets have been so worried about how fragile he is mentally, going back to the break-up with his supermodel girlfriend that led to him going AWOL for a day and getting suspended, that they’ve over-encouraged him, according to a source close to the situation.

“I was glad to see him get mad,” a Mets’ person said Thursday. “It’s about time. Everyone walks on eggshells around him because they worry about his state of mind. If he’s ever going to get back to something close to what he was, he has to get his competitive edge back.”

That speaks to what Collins said Wednesday night, about how it’s not about winning or losing right now for Harvey. And I understand the manager is trying to do right by his player, but enough already. It surely is about winning or losing. Maybe if Harvey worries more about simply competing and less about mechanics, he’ll have more of a chance.

With that in mind, I’d like to see one more start from Harvey before I write him off completely. Just to find out if snapping out of his positivity trance will have any real impact.

Even that notion, however, is probably born more out of fantasy than the reality the Harvey of old is long gone.

Indeed, SNY analyst Nelson Figueroa offered a blunt assessment Wednesday night of Harvey’s outing, noting that he threw far more two-seam fastballs, trying to sink the ball down in the strike zone, than four-seamers, which were once the staple of his power arsenal.

“He’s trying to reinvent himself,’’ Figueroa said. “But at the major-league level you can’t be paid to try anymore. You have to do. And right now he can’t do.”

That may well prove to be an epitaph of sorts to Harvey’s career as a Met. Certainly GM Sandy Alderson has to think that way this winter as he goes about trying to put a contender back together again.

Not that Alderson can get any value back in a trade. Nor should the Mets non-tender a contract to Harvey, even if arbitration guarantees he’ll earn $5 million or more next season. After all, they can cut him in the spring to save most of the salary if it comes to that.

It was never going to be a happy ending for the Mets and Harvey, who have had a famously stormy relationship. And Harvey has never been a likeable guy, so it’s hard to feel much sympathy for him.

But he did help get the Mets to a World Series, and he did ignore his agent’s screaming and yelling about innings limits to pitch in the 2015 postseason, which may or may not have had anything to do with his TOS injury the next season.

Bottom line, it’s not supposed to end with Harvey looking washed up at age 28. Right now, though, the Mets have to plan as if that’s exactly the case.