PORT ST. LUCIE — A longer runway must be built.

In a week when the Phillies made Bryce Harper the centerpiece of their organization for the next 13 years, the Mets made some news with the hiring of advisers Jessica Mendoza, Al Leiter and John Franco, giving general manager Brodie Van Wagenen more eyes and ears in the stacked NL East.

Quietly, other hires have been made in an attempt to beef up an area that needs to be improved. Omar Minaya, with Van Wagenen’s blessing, has expanded the Mets’ international scouting department in an attempt to give the organization a leg up in Latin America.

“When I started it was important for us to bolster our scouting department, our player development department, our analytics department and our health and performance department,’’ Van Wagenen told The Post. “All four of those I feel are to be the building blocks to what we are trying to do in the future.

“International is an area that we wanted to continue to add resources to. Omar has a tremendous amount of experience in that space and we wanted to add head count so we had more coverage, so we’ve added six new people, four new positions. We are not just replacing personnel, we added four new positions to what we already have so we can have more Familias and Rosarios and Lagares and Mauricios and the next wave of players, so we are excited about what we’ll be able to produce out of there going forward.’’

Mauricio is Ronny Mauricio, a highly touted switch-hitting shortstop who could wind up at third base, signed out of the Dominican in July 2017 for $2.1 million.

“We are talking about 35 percent of the population are going to come from the international marketplace,’’ Van Wagenen explained. “Our academy, by all standards, is incredible. I had the chance to spend some time there. We’ve got good coaches, good operations, now it’s a matter of infusing more talented players to go develop there. It’s a combination of player identification and developing those players once you have them, because it’s a longer runway when you are signing them at 16 to get them to the big leagues.’’

No one knows the international runway like Minaya.

“You not only have to be able to compete there, but you have to be at the forefront,’’ he said.

To that end, Minaya has made essential hirings, starting with Rafael Perez, who is the new director of international operations.

“He is the key person to this,’’ Minaya said. “He is overseeing the scouting and development component.’’

Perez was appointed director of Dominican operations for MLB in 2011. He had worked for the Mets previously.

“The academy that we built down there, he was the originator of the academy,’’ Minaya said. “I think it’s the best academy and that is a competitive advantage for us.’’

During his earlier tenure with the Mets, Perez helped sign Jeurys Familia, Juan Lagares, Wilmer Flores, Rafael Montero, Luis Cessa, Hansel Robles, Ruben Tejada, Elvis Ramirez, Fernando Martinez, Jordany Valdespin, Ezequiel Carrera, Jefry Marte and Gonzalez Germen.

“This is a game of numbers, so I’d rather sign 25 guys than 10 guys and in the international market you can always find some jewels, some late bloomers,’’ Perez said. “It is wonderful having Omar, who is a great evaluator of the international market, but we feel highly supported by Brodie. Brodie comes with a very open mind. Let’s think outside the box. The whole idea was to put together a great staff because the international market is very complex now.’’

Said Minaya: “When you pick the right people, and you have the facilities and you are aggressive, you should be able to be one of the better ones there to sustain winning at the major league level. You have to spend your money wisely.’’

The Mets added Luis Marquez as director of international scouting, Moises de la Mota as supervisor of Latin American scouting, Manny Batista as Venezuelan supervisor, Wilson Peralta as a scout in the Dominican Republic and have shifted Rudy Terrasas to special assignment scout.

“Luis Marquez played a part with Toronto getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr.,’’ Minaya said, noting Ismael Cruz led the way in signing Vlad Jr. “De la Mota got a lot of the better players on the Nationals. Then we have a guy like Manny Batista who was a big part of signing players like Pudge Rodriguez and other guys as an international crosschecker, so we have a good blend of guys working down there.

“Brodie said, ‘How do we improve this?’ And what I’ve done is to add to some of the good people that were already there.’’

Added Van Wagenen: “When you combine the new scouting resources that we have with the player development plan that Allard [Baird] and Jared [Banner] are implementing it’s going to go all the way to our academy, there will be consistency all the way through.’’

A new, longer runway is being built. To keep up, more talent needs to take off for the Mets.