This afternoon, I asked Twitter to tell me why the Mets should non-tender Angel Pagan and who should replace him if they do. Here are the most compelling arguments:

I’ve been through this before and I’m already breaking my earlier promise to not repeat myself. But non-tendering Angel Pagan doesn’t really make any sense.

I’ve read all the same reports you have claiming the team might do so, but until it does, I’ll be skeptical. And if it does, I’d like to hear a pretty solid explanation why.

Pagan did not have a great year. But neither did Coco Crisp, David DeJesus or Grady Sizemore, the three free-agents most often mentioned when discussing the Mets’ center-field situation.

Crisp hit slightly worse than Pagan did in 2011, and his career stats are slightly worse. He’s two years older than Pagan and prone to injuries. Like Pagan, Crisp traditionally rates well defensively but appeared to struggle in 2011.

DeJesus posted an OPS+ identical to Pagan’s in 2011, though his career offensive stats are slightly better than Pagan’s. He hasn’t played much center field since 2008, and hasn’t been an everyday center fielder since 2007. He’s also two years older than Pagan.

Grady Sizemore has not been better than Angel Pagan since 2008, when he was awesome. Sizemore is a year younger than Pagan but he gets hurt constantly. He played only 33 games in 2010 and 71 in 2011, and he played poorly in both seasons. If he can ever regain his awesome form, he will again be awesome (obviously). But it doesn’t appear likely he will.

B.J. Upton is younger, generally healthier, and better than Pagan — though not by as much as you’d think. Upton retains some cachet from his days as an uber-prospect, but by WAR he has never had a season as good as Pagan’s 2010. At 27, he’s younger than Pagan and a better bet to play well over the next several years.

But Upton is in his last arbitration year with the Rays, meaning he’d have to be non-tendered to become a free-agent (which seems unlikely given his obvious trade value) or the Mets would have to trade something to acquire him. Since Upton is set for free agency next offseason — any team that trades for him would either get only one year of his services or have to broker a negotiating window in which to sign Upton for what will likely be a market-rate extension.

Neither seems to make a hell of a lot of sense for the Mets. The difference between Upton and Pagan is not likely to be great enough to launch the Mets into contention in 2012, and the team’s limited financial flexibility probably complicates — if not entirely negates — the possibility of a long-term extension.

Down on the farm, the Mets have center field prospects in Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Matt den Dekker. But Nieuwenhuis missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, and den Dekker struck out in more than 1/3 of his at-bats in Double-A. Neither appears ready to replace Pagan by April.

The only real strong reason I can see to non-tender Pagan is to make a change for the sake of change. Barring a trade, it looks unlikely the Mets will have many new names penciled in to their lineup or starting rotation come March. Perhaps there’s some minor value in whatever increase in ticket sales come with a fresh face, but… well, c’mon. You’re going to choose an inferior player (potentially for more money) as a marketing gimmick?

Doesn’t make sense. Obviously we’ll see how this all plays out, but given the strong logic demonstrated by Sandy Alderson’s regime thus far and the lack of obvious better options, I’d bet Pagan is back next spring.