PORT ST. LUCIE — Don’t expect to see Johan Santana facing another team’s hitters any time soon. In fact, the Mets’ $137.5 million ace wouldn’t even guarantee to reporters this morning that he would be able to start Opening Day. Santana, whose spring-training debut already has been pushed back twice, now doesn’t plan to pitch in a game for at least two weeks because of tightness in the back of his left elbow. Santana said team doctors have told him it is triceps tendinitis.

“We have 162 games, and everything starts April 6. Is it going to be me or somebody else? It’s tough to say right now,” Santana said when asked about pitching Opening Day in Cincinnati. “Right now, on paper, I’m supposed to be the one. But we’ve got to wait five more weeks to know that. It takes 162 games, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Santana said he won’t throw in a game until he has pitched at least two or three sessions of live batting practice against Met hitters, with potentially two days or more of rest between those sessions.

Santana described that schedule as merely a cautious reaction by the club and said he plans to throw a “light” bullpen session tomorrow morning. Still, this is The Franchise we’re talking about, so it has to be considered a worrisome sign.

More details after we are able to catch up with Jerry Manuel in Lakeland this morning …