Mets mailbag: Matt Harvey deserves chance at redemption

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You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York’s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series of regularly published mailbags. In today’s installment: the Mets. Whether it be in 2020 or 2021 is it worth giving Matt Harvey a shot on a …

You ask, we answer. The Post is fielding questions from readers about New York’s biggest pro sports teams and getting our beat writers to answer them in a series of regularly published mailbags. In today’s installment: the Mets.

Whether it be in 2020 or 2021 is it worth giving Matt Harvey a shot on a minor league deal? — @aschorling

The Mets should absolutely give their former ace another shot. Not that Harvey is owed anything by the organization, but he also could have taken the Stephen Strasburg route and shut down before the 2015 postseason, looking to protect his surgically repaired elbow. Harvey pitched and helped the Mets get to the World Series. He underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome the following year and hasn’t been the same pitcher since.

The “Dark Knight” persona is dead, and judging by the comments the 31-year-old Harvey recently made to colleague Dan Martin, he sounds humbled and would be grateful for another chance. The Mets could use rotation depth. There isn’t much of a downside. If Harvey is finished so be it, but bringing him home for possibly a last opportunity to prove himself, without much financial commitment, would be a nice gesture by the Mets.

If the Wilpons want to sell the team, but not SNY, could the next owner of the Mets get a contract with another network? — Barbara Grimaldi

The contract between the Mets and SNY runs through 2030, so not immediately. It’s been estimated that SNY (in which the Wilpons and Saul Katz hold roughly a 65 percent stake) generates profits north of $100 million annually while the team is losing money, only complicating a potential sale of the club, as the Wilpon and Katz families want to keep the network.

Those circumstances are what made Steve Cohen’s $2.6 billion offer for the club so extraordinary — he is wealthy enough to run the team at a loss without needing the SNY revenue. In this economic nightmare for professional sports, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are going to have a difficult time selling the team for anything close to what Cohen offered without including the network.

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What do you think about moving Amed Rosario or one of the other shortstops to center field? — Myles

It’s worth considering. Team brass mulled the idea last season of trying Rosario in center, but the experiment never started. Now the Mets have Andres Gimenez, who is probably the better pure shortstop defensively, but still has to prove he can hit enough. Another possibility would be taking the organization’s top prospect, 19-year-old shortstop Ronny Mauricio, and moving him to center. The Mets took a similar approach with Juan Lagares early in his career. Lagares became a Gold Glove center fielder, though he never developed enough offensively.

Do you think Carlos Beltran secretly feared for his job security at his introductory press conference? Or was he genuinely surprised at the sensation the Astros cheating scandal ultimately became? — William Kreudl

Beltran was Joe Theismann, and the repercussions of the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing scheme were Lawrence Taylor coming from the blindside. Beltran didn’t realize the magnitude of the situation until after The Athletic reported Mike Fiers’ allegations in mid-November, two weeks after Beltran was introduced as Mets manager.

Here’s a strange scenario to consider: A.J. Hinch was fired as Astros manager in the fallout, but his one-year MLB suspension concludes after this season whether it’s played or not. Could general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, who was the best man at Hinch’s wedding, hire his old Stanford teammate? Following a canceled season, that would give the Mets two straight managers, Beltran and Luis Rojas, who departed without actually managing a game.

If the Mets win the “2020 World Series” does it blow their chances to win a real World Series in the next 20 years? — @Johnnystig

I’m old enough to remember the Dodgers winning the 1981 World Series in a strike-shortened season, and that title doesn’t seem illegitimate. The Redskins winning the Super Bowl in a season that included scab players has withstood the test of legitimacy. So if the Mets win it all this season, and you root for the team, party like it’s 1969.