The Mets are ready to shred their final four bracket and chart a different course at second base.

Disenchanted with what he has seen from Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Brad Emaus and Justin Turner this spring, manager Terry Collins is preparing to name Luis Hernandez the starter at second base, a source with direct knowledge of Collins’ plans told The Post yesterday. The move will be contingent upon Collins convincing the front office to find roster space for Hernandez.

– Mike Puma, N.Y. Post.

Wait a minute, really? That Luis Hernandez? The guy with the career .302 Minor League — Minor League! — on-base percentage. All due respect to the saddest home run ever, but I’m not buying it.

For one thing, keep in mind we’ve already seen reports from MetsBlog that Brad Emaus is in the lead, from the Times that Luis Castillo is in the lead, and from the Daily News that Daniel Murphy is in the lead. So it seems unlikely to me that, out of nowhere, Hernandez has wrested the position from four competitors by March 15 and only the Post has the scoop.

Second, as Matt Cerrone just pointed out, if the Mets were interested in an all-defense, no-hit second baseman — despite all Collins’ claims that second base is an offensive position — why wouldn’t Chin-Lung Hu then be added to the mix? Hu, after all, is also an apt defender, and probably offers more offensive upside than Hernandez.

I’m going to stick with my supposition that nothing has been decided yet. Because I don’t really want to consider yet the possibility that the new front office and manager would make Luis Hernandez an everyday player. I’ll wait until there’s stronger evidence that it’s actually happening.

I will seize this opportunity to advocate for Justin Turner some more. He often seems to be the forgotten man in what was thought to be the four-horse race for the second-base job. I get the feeling some Mets fans see him as almost interchangeable with Emaus — righty hitting offensive second basemen without much in the way of a Major League pedigree. And everyone figures since Emaus is a Rule 5 guy and Turner has options, Emaus would get the nod over Turner, all things being equal.

But I’m not sure all things are equal. As I pointed out Friday, Turner’s Triple-A stats from 2010 are actually way more impressive than Emaus’ since he played in a much tougher hitting environment. Plus Turner has experience playing shortstop, for what that’s worth. I haven’t seen nearly enough of him to say how he looks defensively, plus I’m not sure I’d trust my eye anyway. I’m just saying he needs a lobby, or at the very least some reporter to come out and say he’s in the lead for the second-base job.

Oh wait, I am a reporter. Nevermind that I’ve been away from Port St. Lucie a full week now and I didn’t really talk to anyone about Turner. How should I carefully word this completely fictional scoop?

How’s this? Some Mets people have been really impressed with Justin Turner’s work in camp so far and believe he could emerge as the team’s starting second baseman by Opening Day. Run with it, Internet!