SAME OL’ NATHAN

As recently as two weeks ago the Mets were resisting the obvious need to send Michael Conforto to the minors, in part because they feared Brandon Nimmo could be overmatched by big-league pitching, thereby reducing his trade value. And that might still turn out to be the case. But with a couple of huge hits to win games against the Cubs, including the longest home run hit by a Met this season, Nimmo quickly has shown potential, to the point where you can even speculate that he might help the ballclub retain Yoenis Cespedes beyond this season.

It’s way too early to make too much of Nimmo’s instant impact, but the Mets have liked what they’ve seen. With a stroke that is fairly short and quick to the ball, he hasn’t looked overmatched at all, even against Max Scherzer, and his 442-foot home run Friday night offers reason to believe he’ll hit with more of the power the franchise envisioned when it drafted him with a first-round pick out of high school in Wyoming in 2011.

If he proves to have staying power, the ideal scenario for the Mets might be a future with him in right field and Conforto in left. That would equate to two low salaries for the next few years, which would at least theoretically allow the ballclub to commit long-term to Cespedes — assuming he invokes his opt-out clause at the end of this season.

The Mets, after all, should be sold on Cespedes by now. Whatever concerns they might still have about effort if he signs a mega-deal, it’s more clear than ever their offense desperately needs his power and presence.

The problem with such a scenario is the question of how long Cespedes can play an adequate center field as he ages into his 30s.

The Mets have billed Nimmo as a center fielder, playing him there during his years in the minors, but scouts have said he doesn’t have the instincts or the range to play there in the big leagues, and he’s looked shaky on a few plays in right and left since his call-up.

Cespedes is athletic, enough, however, that he should be able to play primarily in center for a couple of more years.

There is also the matter of Curtis Granderson, who will be on the last year of his contract in 2017. It’s unlikely the Mets could trade him without eating a sizeable portion of the $15 million he’s owed, so …

Is it possible Nimmo could still be used as a trade chip?

No matter what GM Sandy Alderson said Friday, warning fans not to expect a big trade like last summer, he’ll be looking for ways to add offense before the Aug. 1 deadline.

The Mets will have time to see how much Jose Reyes can help, but making a deal for Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, could have a major impact.

With Zack Wheeler off the table due to his recent elbow setback, the Mets don’t seem to have the centerpiece to such a trade package.

Jim Callis, the MLB.com and MLBpipeline.com analyst who evaluates farm systems, speaking regularly to scouts and executives in every organization, agrees with that perception.

“They have some solid prospects,” Callis said by phone last week, “but they don’t have those guys a team is going to have to have in a blockbuster trade. They don’t have another Michael Fulmer in their system.”

In making that assessment, Callis was considering 20-year-old shortstop Amed Rosario off-limits, something the Mets have made clear. Conforto too is in that category, despite his recent demotion.

So a trade would have to come from the best of the rest at the upper levels of the Mets’ system, mostly meaning their No. 1 draft choices of recent years, Nimmo, Dominic Smith, and Gavin Cecchini.

None has shown the star potential the Mets had hoped when they selected them out of high school, including Nimmo.

“Talking to scouts,” Callis said, “the question has been whether he’ll be a regular or a fourth outfielder. The jury is still out.”

Perhaps Nimmo already is raising his stock since his call-up last week, but if he keeps delivering big hits he may play himself out of any trade scenario. Certainly Mets fans already are falling in love with the pure, Little Leaguetype joy he exhibits on the field.

At the very least, his hot start in the big leagues could be giving Alderson unexpected options for this season and beyond.

An AL scout admits Nathan Eovaldi him fooled a month ago.

“I really thought he’d made a big step forward toward becoming a reliable starter,” the scout said Saturday. “I thought the splitter had become a weapon for him that made his high velocity (fastball) more of a factor.

“I didn’t think you’d see him go back to being so hittable again, but it comes back to command. “He doesn’t locate with the fastball and he lost command of the splitter, and started hanging it.

“I should have known better. He’s the same guy. I’m sure the Yankees are frustrated like crazy with him.”

That pretty much sums up Eovaldi’s last six starts, in which he has surrendered 12 home runs while pitching to a 9.20 ERA — and the opposition is hitting .344 against him, 99 mph fastball and all.

As a result, he’s 6-6 with a 5.54 ERA for the season, and making the trade Brian Cashman made with the Marlins in December of 2014 look bad.

Martin Prado is having a solid season at third base for the Marlins, and, David Phelps has become an important late-inning reliever for them, pitching to a 2.30 ERA in 39 appearances with 52 strikeouts in 43 innings.