AL SEES THE LEIT

Pitches idea of bright future for Mets’ hurting hurlers

In the space of five days over the last week it became official: among the Mets’ ballyhooed young guns, only Noah Syndergaard — with luck — will be standing whenever this season ends. And even Syndergaard could need a surgical procedure during the offseason to remove a bone spur in his elbow. If that turns out to be the case, all of the five starters expected to pitch the Mets to a championship will arrive for spring training coming off some form of surgery.

In Zack Wheeler’s case, that surgery was in March of 2015, and yet two years of setbacks later his future has to be considered uncertain.

Meanwhile, Matt Harvey told reporters two weeks ago that his rehab from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, during which he had a rib removed, is going “slower than I expected.”

Last week Jacob deGrom had surgery to move a nerve in his elbow, and soon enough Steven Matz will have surgery to remove a bone spur in his elbow — while the Mets keep their fingers crossed that the discomfort in his shoulder will resolve itself with a winter of rest.

All told, even as the 2016 Mets grind away toward a wild-card berth, it is a startling image to consider, with so much of the future dependent on a rebound from these golden arms, and you can’t help but wonder if their potential greatness as a group will come to fruition.

It’s only natural to recall the Wilson, Pulsipher, Isringhausen trio in the 1990s that failed to live up to the hype, largey due to injuries. But for a more optimistic outlook I turned to Al Leiter, the former pitcher who had a distinguished major-league career that included seven seasons in his 30s with the Mets as their No. 1 or No. 2 starter.

Because here’s what a lot of people forget: Leiter was a Yankee phenom who debuted at age 21, but then had a Matz-like bout with injuries, needing two shoulder surgeries that limited him to a total of 13 appearances in four seasons.

So he has a unique perspective on the physical and mental hurdles that lie ahead for the Mets’ pitchers, and, perhaps not surprisingly, considering his own success, he thinks their future is as bright as it was before all the injuries.

“Of course it is,” he said. “I’m the poster child for what can be done. People may want to paint it as doom and gloom, but I’m 100% anti-doom and gloom.

“I was a hard thrower as a kid, but as scary as it was for me, having two shoulder surgeries before I was 25, the hardest recorded fastball I ever threw was at age 31, when I blew a 97mph fastball by Cecil Fielder in 1997. “So to me it’s still all ahead for these guys.” Leiter does think it’s important the Mets’ pitchers learn from their injuries, and cites a checklist of sorts that was critical for him.

l Don’t give in to pressure to come back too soon: “There’s always a stigma when you’re hurt. You feel a pressure to get back out there and contribute, though I think it’s less compelling now because the industry is so much more attuned to protecting young arms. But there’s no reason to be a hero. I know that pushing myself to come back the year after my first shoulder surgery, before I was really ready, wound up being the reason I needed a second surgery.”

l Don’t be afraid to make adjustments: “I had to change everything, from my workout routine to my mechanics and my delivery, because I felt if I didn’t I’d need a third surgery. They may not all need to do it, but if there’s a reason for the injuries, especially for a guy like Matz, who has a history, it could be very important.”

l Learn how to pitch without maximum velocity: “I think this is a major issue with young pitchers today. They’re putting so much stress on the arm. I became a much better pitcher when I figured out that I didn’t have to max out on every pitch, and I started to add and subtract velocity according to game situations.”

The bottom line, Leiter says, is he is proof that talent is durable.

In his case, he’ll always be convinced that Yankee manager Dallas Green cost him years of his career by allowing him to throw 163 pitches in a start in 1989, yet he eventually overcame the subsequent shoulder surgeries to throw 2,278 of his 2,391 major league innings after age 27.

“Those guys will be back,” Leiter said of the Mets’ pitchers. “They’re too good not to.”

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Mariners took action against Steve Clevenger, their backup catcher who made news with his racist tweets about the Black Lives Matter protesters in Charlotte, N.C., suspending him for the rest of the season. But to send the proper message that baseball won’t tolerate such garbage, they should have just released him.

Furthermore, commissioner Rob Manfred should have made an official statement by now, denouncing Clevenger’s commentary — not just because Orioles’ star Adam Jones recently labeled baseball a white man’s sport, but because it would be the right thing to do.

As USA Today writer Bob Nightengale pointed out, Bud Selig set a precedent by publicly condemning infamous Braves’ reliever John Rocker for his racist and homophobic remarks about New Yorkers in 2000, while announcing a 73-day suspension.

“Major League Baseball takes seriously its role as an American institution and the important social responsibility that goes with it,” Selig said then. “We will not dodge our responsibility. Mr. Rocker should understand that his remarks offended practically every element of society and brought dishonor to himself, the Atlanta Braves, and Major League Baseball.”

It was important then for Selig to condemn Rocker’s comments, and considering the heightened state of racial tensions in the U.S. these days, it’s even more important for Manfred to do the same regarding Clevenger.

That said, it’s hard to imagine he’ll ever play another game for any major league organization.

“No chance,” was the way one majorleague executive put it on Friday. “We’re all guilty of rationalizing that type of behavior for a star player, but I do think most of us want to do the right thing in these situations. It’s just a lot easier to do it when it’s a backup catcher.”

HEY DOWN

I know of at least a few scouts who are quietly chuckling at the struggles of Jason Heyward, who as of Saturday had the thirdlowest OPS of all hitters in the majors who qualified for official statistics.

It’s nothing personal, of course. They just enjoy being right in calling the Cubs crazy last winter for signing Heyward to an eight-year, $184 million contract.

The Cubs were willing to commit that type of money at least partly due to Heyward’s sabermetric value, but his outfield defense and his baserunning hardly make up for his lack of offensive production, as he’s hitting .230 with seven home runs, nine stolen bases, and a .628 OPS that ranks ahead of just Jose Iglesias and Adeiny Hechaverria.

“It’s hard to knock Theo (Epstein) with the year the Cubs are having,” one scout said. “But the Heyward thing never made sense. It’s true that we evaluate players differently than we did in the past, but you still have to hit to be worth that type of money, and Heyward’s just not that type of hitter.”

BETTER THAN ADVERTISED

On the other hand, as Terry Collins has mentioned more than once, it was the scouts — some, anyway — who whiffed when it came to Asdrubal Cabrera, telling him last winter they didn’t think the newly-signed Met was still an everyday shortstop.

OK, it’s fair to say that range is an issue for Cabrera, but if the Mets make the postseason the guy really should get some MVP votes — he’s meant that much to this team.

Hitting .363 since coming off the disabled list on Aug. 17, Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes have carried the Mets on their late-season run. For the season he has 22 home runs and an .815 OPS that ranks third among all major league shortstops, behind only Corey Seager and Carlos Correa.

And while errors aren’t the best way to judge a shortstop’s defensive value, it’s surely worth noting that Cabrera’s six errors are the second-lowest total in the majors, one more than Iglesias has made.

Smooth and sure-handed, Cabrera simply has been one of the best free-agent signings any team made last winter — and a bargain for the Mets at two years, $18.5 million.