Astros star Carlos Correa endorses former teammate Carlos Beltran as Mets manager 

HOUSTON — One of the Astros’ biggest stars endorsed Carlos Beltran as the next Mets manager.

“I feel like if he gets the job, he’s going to help that team in a huge way,” Carlos Correa said Monday before the Astros worked out in advance of Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.

Beltran, a special adviser with the Yankees, has interviewed for the vacant Mets job and is expected to have a second interview.

He spent the 20th and final season of his major-league playing career with the Astros in 2017 and won his first World Series ring. Correa, 25, debuted with Houston in 2015 and was named AL Rookie of the Year.

“Beltran has so much baseball knowledge that it’s hard to explain,” Correa said. “I feel like he’s going to help the young guys on that team understand the game better, look for things they’ve never imagined they should look for in the video room. He’s a game-changer.”

Sticking with Yordan

Even though Yordan Alvarez went 1-for-22 with 12 strikeouts against the Yankees in the ALCS, the favorite to be named AL Rookie of the Year isn’t going anywhere.

“He’s going to DH and bat seventh tomorrow,” manager AJ Hinch said of Alvarez, 22, who batted .313 and had 27 home runs and 78 RBIs in only 87 games. “We get to wipe the slate clean. He gets to start all over again in the World Series, and he’s going to be facing some elite pitching. We need him to be good to be at our best. I look forward to him DHing both Game 1 and 2. We’ll see what happens when we get to Washington.”

Take a break

The Nationals, by virtue of a four-game sweep of the Cardinals in the NLCS,  will have had a week off when they next take the field. Will they be rusty?

“We’re the old guys,” Anthony Rendon said, a reference to the team averaging over 31 years of age, the oldest in MLB. “I think [the time off is] definitely needed, especially after a long season. We’ve been playing baseball since February. These five or six days really gives us a chance to gear back up and be at 100 percent.”

Condolences for Coop

Eric Cooper, long a popular umpire among players because of his chatty and friendly on-field demeanor, died Sunday of a blood clot at the age of 52. Unprompted, Hinch opened his news conference by talking about the 21-year veteran known almost universally as “Coop.”

“Coop was an incredible man that everybody looked forward to seeing on the field,” Hinch said. “And unfortunately, when you go to Google a picture about Coop, it’s like me and him yelling at each other, because that’s the nature of the interaction that you guys get to see on the field. But the brotherhood that we have in our game is important and extends to the umpires and to his family. So a tragic loss for baseball.”

The umpires for this series will wear a patch in Cooper’s honor.