David Wright unlikely to return to Mets this season

Mets third baseman David Wright says he will not be allowed to start rehabilitation from neck surgery until mid-September, a timetable that makes it unlikely he will play again this season.

New York’s captain had surgery June 16 to repair a herniated disk in his neck, rejoined the team Thursday and spoke Friday for the first time since the operation in California.

He had a bandage on his neck, near his Adam’s apple, and walked stiffly. He said he is supposed to wear a neck brace when he is around crowds or in a car.

Wright says “the next three months, it’s really not doing anything, it’s letting the bones kind of fuse together and making sure that that happens in my neck so I’m healthy moving forward.”

While saying he was pleased Jose Reyes had rejoined the Mets, Wright called Reyes’ actions in a domestic abuse case “horrible.”

Red Sox penalized

The Boston Red Sox were banned from signing international amateur free agents for one year, a penalty assessed after Major League Baseball concluded the team broke rules on signing bonuses last summer.

MLB concluded the Red Sox and buscones — local trainer/representatives of the players — worked together to evade a $300,000 cap on signing bonuses to five Venezuelan prospects who were 16 at the time: right-hander Cesar Gonzalez, infielders Antonio Pinero and Eduardo Torrealba, and outfielders Albert Guaimaro and Simon Muzziotti.

Boston may not sign international amateur free agents — players under age 23 residing outside the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico — for the signing period that starts Saturday and runs through July 1, 2017. The contracts of the five players were voided, and they were declared free agents. They are allowed to keep their prior signing bonuses.