The risk is substantial. The chances this ownership group accepts those risks minimal. Yet, the Mets should call Colorado and make an offer the Rockies cannot refuse.

The Mets should get Troy Tulowitzki.

Let’s get all of the bad stuff out of the way first. Tulowitzki has five years at $106 million left. In his prime, Tulowitzki has been injury prone and he turned 30 in October. He is rehabbing from the worst of his injuries, a torn hip labrum, the same injury Alex Rodriguez has endured in both hips. His stats are inflated by playing home games at Coors Field.

But here is the thing: Tulowitzki would not be available if he were without defect. He certainly would not be available at a price that is at least borderline reasonable.

And he might not be available. Colorado has hinted at Tulowitzki being on the market, but those who have checked in are not sure. That is why the Mets must be proactive and make an offer the Rockies cannot refuse.

Any honest assessment reveals Colorado as a non-contender. A non-contender always should be trying to cash in an aging, pricey player to improve the future, especially a player with the flaws previously mentioned about Tulowitzki. I understand the fear of the Rockies’ franchise. Tulowitzki is popular and the fans could offer some level of revolt, and he could have sustained health/success and haunt the Rockies.

But the risk of keeping him to have his value further diminish simply is not worth it.

So the Mets have to sell themselves that this is the Gary Carter trade and sell the Rockies that this is the Mark Teixeira deal from Texas to Atlanta that so improved the future of the Rangers.

This would be a sizable gamble for the Mets. They have a bit of a cursed history that suggests Tulowitzki would come and never be near his old self — a George Foster redux.

Nevertheless, this is the moment in time when the Mets need to gamble. They have set themselves up well with this stockpile of quality pitching. But they need a real shortstop and another bat. Both are hard to find. Tulowitzki is both if right. A difference maker. The kind of guy who puts David Wright in his more comfortable co-star role or covers up if Wright’s fade is irreversible.

He is one of those players not contained by Citi Field, even at the old distances. In 48 career Citi at-bats, Tulowitzki has eight extra-base hits, including five homers.

To get him — defects and all — the Mets are going to have to give up a bevy of prospects. That hurts. This is not how little you want to give up if you are the Mets. Put yourself in the seat of a new Rockies general manager. What would he have to receive to move from implacable to willing to move a franchise cornerstone? The answer is something that will bring pain to Mets fans, particularly those deluded into thinking every prospect ever praised in Baseball America is going to be a star.

The Mets, though, should demand this concession: They are ready to win now, so Colorado cannot touch the major league roster. So no Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler or Jacob deGrom. The trade begins with Noah Syndergaard. Because of that the Mets get to protect their second-best pitching prospect, Steve Matz.

After that they tell Colorado you can pretty much have it on any other three players you want from among, say, Rafael Montero, Kevin Plawecki, Brandon Nimmo, Wilmer Flores and Matt Reynolds. Michael Conforto can’t be traded until June, one year after he was drafted, but he could become a player to be named later.

There is pain in there, particularly with Syndergaard and Conforto. But you are not getting out of this without the pain. The minor league system is to help the major league club.

Sandy Alderson needs to make Rockies officials see the upside of this. Syndergaard could be an ace and Montero a pretty good No. 3. You want Reynolds or Flores to be an offensive shortstop in your park, take one. Plawecki might be able to catch in the majors by June or July. Nimmo is a Moneyball-esque outfielder nearly ready, too. Conforto is a fast-rising prospect with All-Star potential.

And remember, you get not just four pieces to re-energize your talent base, but all the money saved by this move to redirect for more players.

Oh, yes, the Wilpons have to take every penny of it. This is the moment to stop talking about raising payroll at the right moment. It is a hard one to swallow — and not just for a hesitant ownership.

Alderson hates risk, too, and this is the kind of risk that if it goes wrong gets folks fired — and the Wilpons are not firing themselves.

Alderson has done a lot to create a sustainable young talent base and he would have to give up a chunk here. It is not easy. But it is the time. Like it was in December 1984 when another Mets team seemingly on the brink of something special took a huge risk.

Don’t let time diminish the risk. Carter, like Tulowitzki now, was 30 and had 10 years of heavy-duty catching on his knees. He would have just two more star-level seasons, but it was two star-level seasons that changed the arc of a franchise.

The Mets gave up a good and popular everyday player in Hubie Brooks and three prospects, two of whom — Herm Winningham and Floyd Youmans — probably would have been high on top-100 prospect lists if there were such a thing back then.

Winningham and Youmans did not fulfill their promise. Most don’t. I can remember Mets fans yelling at me that the team could not trade a Fernando Martinez or Lastings Milledge or Generation K. But even if Winningham and Youmans had tuned into stars, those two years of Carter would have been worth it.

The Mets’ last championship is in those two years, their last tie to owning this city.

Here it is for the taking again with the Yankees potentially on the downslope. Here is Tulowitzki, who wears No. 2 in honor of Derek Jeter, the player long assumed as the Bronx heir to Jeter. Imagine stealing him for Queens.

Yes, Tulowitzki wanted the Yankees, too. But a poorly kept secret in the game is just how badly he wants out of Colorado now. He doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but he does have an understanding with Rockies ownership that he would be consulted. A person who has spoken on more than one occasion with Tulowitzki believes he is so disenchanted in Colorado that he would embrace a move to the Mets, a chance to play in New York.

It is all risk — really for both the Mets and Rockies. There are easy-to-foresee scenarios of complete disaster for either side. But this is the right moment for both sides to jump, and the Mets need to be the instigators, pushing this agenda. Look at the medicals, watch some workouts, if all looks good, well, there is no other obvious move that can — if matters go right — change them from an interesting rising team to something special.

The Mets have another Carter moment. Seize it.