New York Mets Alert

Ace Max Scherzer suffered a hamstring injury and it is unknown when he will be able to pitch, dealing another frustrating blow to a New York Mets rotation that looked bright and now appears fragile.

A day after the Mets reported that Jacob deGrom will miss significant time with a shoulder injury, Scherzer was ruled out of Saturday’s scheduled opener in a simulated game.

Just five days before the Mets open their season at the Washington Nationals, Scherzer said he was unsure about immediate plans. A three-time Cy Young Award winner, the pitcher said he doesn’t expect the problems with his right thigh to be long-term.

“I don’t know,” Scherzer commented when asked when he would pitch again. “I’ve had these little hamstring injuries before. They go away in days. I’ve been pretty fortunate that I haven’t had any serious hamstring injuries, just some little scares.”

“I think this will be the same. For me, it will just be a matter of going day by day….. But when you deal with this you never know.”

Mets manager Buck Showalter said he would listen to the 37-year-old righty’s comments, but added that he still contemplates Scherzer as an option to open the opening game against his former Washington teammates.

“If you look at the days, the breaks and what we have, I do consider him, but I’m not committing to that,” Showalter said.

The Mets signed Scherzer to a three-year, $130 million contract as a free agent. With that, their top of the rotation looked scary.

But news that deGrom won’t pitch for even four weeks hit those expectations.

There is no timetable for deGrom’s return. In addition to the time he won’t pitch, the two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher would require at least a month before he’s ready to pitch in the majors.

And that would be a best-case scenario. He missed the entire second half of last season with an elbow injury.

Chris Bassitt, an All-Star Game pick acquired last month in a trade with the Oakland Athletics, is scheduled to pitch this Sunday in the Grapefruit League. Venezuela’s Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker would round out the rotation.

“Just because something doesn’t happen in the first game of the season, I’m not going to think everything is wrong, just because of one or two spots,” Showalter said.

“We have options to go different directions if we want to. I told those three guys to stay on the same path.”