Miami — Over the winter, as the Mets prepared for Matt Harvey’s first season back from Tommy John surgery, Sandy Alderson, the team’s general manager, and Scott Boras, Harvey’s agent, had a general conservation about how the Mets would handle Harvey’s health.

Boras, who has had several high-profile clients go through the surgery, indicated to Alderson, then, that he wanted to follow the orders of Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon who performed Harvey’s surgery. Boras brought up Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals as an example. Strasburg is a client of his who was shut down in the 2012 season and then sat out the postseason because he had reached his innings limit.

“We understand there’s an innings limit,” Alderson said, according to Boras.

Now, five months into the season, a debate has arisen over how much Harvey should pitch in the final month. The issue has also taken on more importance because the Mets are positioned to make the postseason for the first time since 2006, and Harvey’s performance has been instrumental in their renaissance.

In 25 starts, Harvey has compiled a 2.60 ERA in 166.1 innings. The Mets have carefully watched his workload, counting his pitches, monitoring him daily, skipping starts and expanding their rotation to give him extra days off now and then. And according to an article published Friday on CBSSports.com by Jon Heyman, the Mets believe they can pitch him for 190 innings this season and then also start him in the playoffs.

But as Boras contended in a phone interview Friday, Andrews recently recommended that Harvey’s innings be capped at 180, partially because he had never thrown more than 178.1 innings in a season and it would be risky to do so. If the Mets were to follow that number strictly, Harvey would make about two more starts before being shut down for the year.

“I’m not saying what the Mets can or can’t do,” Boras said. “That’s not my job. I’m letting them know what the medical opinion is, and that’s it. And when they receive notice of the medical opinion, who’s accountable for that?”

Mets assistant general manager Jon Ricco said told the Associated Press on Friday that Harvey will keep pitching as long as the Mets are playing, assuming a "reasonable workload" during the playoffs.

In August, when Harvey sat at about 140 innings, Boras reached out to Andrews and had Neal ElAttrache, another top orthopedic surgeon, review Harvey’s case. According to Boras, Andrews recommended that Harvey be limited to 180 innings, ElAttrache recommended a 165-inning limit, and David Altchek, the Mets’ team doctor, indicated to Boras that he would defer to Andrews’ opinion, considering he performed the operation.

That is when Boras texted Alderson what Andrews and ElAttrache had reported to him.

“I wanted it in writing,” Boras said.

That’s because decisions to shut down players after Tommy John surgery are not popular. When the Nationals shut down Strasburg, at the request of Andrews and Dr. Lewis Yocum, according to Boras, the public assumed it had been Boras’ doing.

“The player wants to pitch!” Boras said. “But when the surgeon who saved their career, a person they trust, is telling them: ‘You’re at severe risk when you do this, and everything you gained back you can lose again for a second time, and by the way, after a second time, the percentages are much lower on a return’ — what are you going to think as a player?”

Throughout the process, Harvey has told both sides that he prefers to stay out of their discussions about his innings limit or how he is handled. If the Mets were to go against his doctor’s wishes, though, they would surely need not only his blessing, but his endorsement.

After his last start, Harvey felt so weak and dehydrated that he stayed in the trainer’s room and received treatment instead of speaking to the news media. His command had also looked off recently, and his velocity had dipped. He appeared to be getting fatigued, which, of course, would increase the chance of injury.

“As for what they do, I leave that to them,” Boras said. “We hope, like with these other clubs, that the priority is the player’s safety and that the medical opinions are followed. If they’re not, the ethics of that is something the club will have to bear.”