Pickings slim for outside help

ATLANTA — So seven arms have become four and now the Mets are looking for rotation help from the outside. And what’s on the outside? Some really impressive names. If it were five years ago. Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy, Doug Fister, Colby Lewis and Alfredo Simon are among the guys sitting around hoping for a phone call. And Edwin Jackson, who has pitched just about everywhere but New York, is on a minor league deal with Baltimore and hasn’t pitched yet.

General manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged the injury to Noah Syndergaard likely would “accelerate” the Mets’ efforts to find outside help, But he quickly acknowledged by the time some of those guys were even ready to pitch, internal help, namely Steven Matz and Seth Lugo, two of the original magnificent seven, might be at the door.

“As I have said the last few days, we have looked at that possibility and I would say yes that this would probably accelerate that process,” Alderson said of finding an outside arm. “But we have to be realistic about what may be out there.

“There may be some pitchers who may be available who have not been pitching, would require a certain amount of time to ramp up and might not be available to us until the time Matz and Lugo are possibly back,” Alderson said before the Mets began their series with the Braves. ”There may be some other possibilities we also take a look at but certainly this changes that situation a little bit.”

Fister, 33, is probably the most logical. He was 12-13 with a 4.64 ERA last season in Houston. Peavy, 35, was 5-9 with a 5. 54 ERA for the Giants. Lincecum, 32, was 2-6 with a 9.16 ERA in a comeback try with the Angels. Simon, 35, was even worse: 2-9 with a 9.36 ERA for the Reds. Lewis, 37, was 6-5 with a 3.7 1 ERA in Texas and drew offseason interest from the Mets. But Lewis is not interested, according to The Post’s Joel Sherman. Jackson, 33, was 5-6 with a 5.89 ERA with the Padres.