It’s hard to feel so bad for big-headed Harv

In itself it’s a sad story, a pitcher with electric talent being reduced to a hasbeen before he’s 30 years old, but Matt Harvey carried himself with such little regard for others over the years that I don’t think anyone around the Mets will care that he’s gone. And that’s really the sad part. So kudos to the Mets, from Jeff Wilpon on down, for recognizing that keeping Harvey around as an unhappy, ineffective, entitled mop-up reliever was counter-productive for a ballclub whose new manager has harped on the importance of building a culture of accountability in the clubhouse.

Not that they didn’t know it already; the surprise is that they acted on it so quickly, announcing on Friday that Harvey, after refusing the team’s request to go to the minors, is being designated for assignment — and almost certainly released since no team is going to take on his $5.63 million salary in a trade.

As I wrote in Friday’s Daily News, it was clearly time for the Mets to cut the cord, but I thought their fear of Harvey re-surfacing elsewhere — like the Bronx — was keeping ownership from making the right move. Whether that was the case or not, good for the Wilpons for not standing in the way of this move, which came to a head when Mickey Callaway became convinced there was no way to fix all that is wrong with Harvey in his role as a reliever.

The only way was a complete overhaul of his mechanics, which had gone haywire since spring training. On Friday Callaway invoked the names of Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, two pitchers who reclaimed greatness after going back to the minors, in explaining why Harvey needed to be sent down.

But was anybody really surprised that Harvey said no?

For one thing, Scott Boras wasn’t about to stand for that, and if you’ve been listening to Harvey grasp for the slightest positivity after his recent failed outings, you know just how hard he’s leaning on baseball’s most famous agent for advice and support.

For another, there is such animosity between Harvey and the Mets’ hierarchy, going back several years, that both sides knew the request to go to the minors was nothing more than a formality.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Harvey does wind up in the minors for another organization, but it sure as heck wasn’t going to be the Mets. Just as I’m sure they’re relieved he said no anyway.

Such is the bad blood on both sides, and the Mets aren’t completely innocent in that regard. Harvey was always a prima donna, but they unnecessarily antagonized him by sticking his spring training locker practically in the shower in 2014, when he was injured and they didn’t want him talking to the media.

Otherwise the pitcher is mostly at fault, not just for the nature of the relationship with the organization, but how the perception of him changed as it became obvious how much he wanted to be a star/celebrity, as well as a great pitcher.

Whether it was refusing to rehab his Tommy John injury in Port St. Lucie like other injured players, because he wanted to be in New York where he could go to Rangers’ games and be seen with supermodels, or showing up at a Yankee game to see Derek Jeter play while the Mets were playing on the road, Harvey wanted to do things his way.

At first he seemed like a welcome force of change for a team that had become too comfortable losing, but as it became clear he wasn’t one of the boys, if you will, preferring to hang with Henrik Lundqvist rather than his teammates, it became equally clear that Harvey would never be a leader in his own clubhouse.

Not when he was all about himself.

I always thought it was telling that he tried to intimidate a young Noah Syndergaard in 2015, mocking him for doing too many interviews with the media, to the point where Syndergaard started asking reporters to meet him outside the clubhouse where Harvey wouldn’t see him talking to them.

There are plenty of other examples of Harvey’s self-interest, perhaps none more revealing than Jesse Hahn, a major league pitcher who went to high school with Harvey in Connecticut, telling someone I knew a few years ago that he had no relationship with his former classmate because “he’s always big-timed me.” bviously there are plenty of huge egos among big-leaguers, but Harvey is a coach’s son, having played for his dad in high school, and I’ve never seen a coach’s son who put himself ahead of the team as he did. I always thought that was odd.

But, hey, let’s be honest, if Harvey had stayed injury-free, he’d be the toast of the town and no doubt celebrated for his bravado. He did light up Citi Field with his talent in an unforgettable way in 2012 and ’13, and you hate to see such promise stolen from anyone because of injury.

It’s just that, well, if he’d been a decent guy along the way, a lot of people would feel a lot worse about it.

O