Word is Gary Matthews Jr. will start on Opening Day for the Mets. The younger Gary Matthews. Old Man Matthews’ kid.

Forgive the forthcoming snark.

The Major League center fielders in April: Matthews, Angel Pagan.

Overview: Neither of these men is Carlos Beltran. No man but Carlos Beltran is Carlos Beltran, and there’s some chance Carlos Beltran is not a man at all. The jury is still out on if he’s superhuman.

But it is not reasonable to say, “oh, well, one center fielder who is not Carlos Beltran is the same as any other center fielder who is not Carlos Beltran,” which, by suggesting he’ll platoon switch-hitting Gary Matthews Jr. and switch-hitting Angel Pagan based on favorable matchups, is what Jerry Manuel is doing.

It has been three long years since Matthews posted a season as good as the one Pagan provided the Mets in 2009, and Matthews spent the final two of those toiling comfortably below the Major League replacement level. Perhaps there’s something to be said for a change of scenery, not to mention the switch to the easier league, but to think Matthews, at 35, could suddenly start again performing as well as Pagan did just last year on either side of the ball represents the type of logic that– oh, right. The Mets.

The good news is it shouldn’t matter come mid-May or so, provided Beltran’s recovery from mysterious offseason knee surgery remains on track. Perhaps sometime before then, Pagan will establish himself — even in the eyes of the Mets — as the superior center fielder and earn the lion’s share of at-bats.

Here’s hoping that happens, and quickly.

If Beltran returns, Mets fans must hope he returns to being Beltran. Beltran hit as well if not a bit better than he always does in 2009, but the elements that elevate him to his own strata —  the Carlosphere? — went missing with the knee injury. For the first time in his career, he did not run the bases well or demonstrate a ton of range in center field.

Beltran will turn 33 later this month, and so it’s not reasonable to expect him to ever quite return to the form he showed in 2006, 2007 and 2008. But can he return to greatness? I’d say so. Like I’m not about to bet against David Wright, I’m not about to bet against Carlos Beltran.

Oh, and remember what I said about Jose Reyes? About being psyched to see him play baseball again? Triple that excitement for Beltran. My tongue-in-cheekiness about Luis Castillo being my favorite baseball player aside, Carlos Beltran is actually my favorite player to watch, in a landslide.

I’ve been through this before: I think I could write a whole blog just called Carlos Beltran Playing Baseball, and just recap whatever Beltran did that day. His game is like minimalist art. People would probably get tired of reading it, but I’d never get tired of writing it.

The Major League center fielders in September: Beltran, Pagan.

Given the way the Mets make decisions, this is probably wishful thinking on my part.

How they stack up: When Beltran plays, assuming he’s healthy, he’ll be the best center fielder in the division. When Matthews plays, assuming he’s playing anything like he did the past three years, he’ll be the worst. When Pagan plays, he’ll likely fall somewhere in the middle, probably closer to the bottom.