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.

Of course, the jury is still out whether Mejia can actually be a starting pitcher in the major leagues, as his secondary pitches need some work, but that’s exactly why he should be in the minor leagues right now. I can’t wait for the irony of seeing him pitch in a game in which the Mets are getting pounded because their starting pitching has let them down once again.

With this decision, Omar Minaya and Manuel are officially “Thelma and Louise,” as far as I’m concerned, tying their short-term fate to the organization’s most promising right arm. Let’s just hope that Mejia isn’t the car.

– D.J. Short, Hardball Talk.

As they say here on the Internet, “this.”

Slap-happy from crazy work week + Canadians = This won’t be good.

The Major League left fielders in April: Jason Bay, Frank Catalanotto

One tenet of the Abraham Nunez Axiom is that when the Mets are deciding between two players to back up a lesser player (in this case, Mike Jacobs), they’ll choose the one with less upside. And so the Mets have Catalanotto on the club, and not Chris Carter.

Overview: Jason Bay is a polite Canadian power hitter. He seems happy that his ability to hit home runs and get on base earned him a four-year, $66 million contract this offseason, but he has told reporters he would also be happy in the career he thought he would pursue after college: zinc smelting. That’s no joke. He had an internship lined up and everything.

You don’t just jump right into paid work at the zinc-smelting plant. You have to cut your teeth first, pay your dues. Do whatever zinc-smelting interns do. Our interns at at the SNY digital department do stats research and figure out what we’re going to talk about on New York Baseball Today and try to figure out ways to get people to visit our websites, which is basically all stuff I do, only they don’t get paid for it. So maybe zinc-smelting interns just smelt zinc for free. Suckers.

I don’t know where zinc comes from and I don’t know how zinc gets smelted, exactly. I think the process is used to create a specific type of sunblock found most frequently on the noses of 1980s lifeguards. In that case, it’s probably good Jason Bay went into power hitting, because no one wears that stuff anymore.

What I do know is that Bay will hit home runs, even in Citi Field. Though Bay benefited from Fenway Park’s dimensions in 2009, his new home does appear to play well for right-handed pull hitters, and he’s one of those.

He’ll also likely get on base around 38% of the time, if not more. That’s good, especially since the Mets will field an Opening Day lineup that includes two guys — Mike Jacobs and Rod Barajas — who couldn’t muster a .300 on-base percentage in 2009 and several more who hovered only barely above that mark.

The main downside to Bay is that it may at times appear the Mets would be better off replacing him in left field with a solid block of zinc. By both UZR and +/-, Bay ranked among the worst left-fielders in the Majors last season, and to the eye this spring, he has appeared slow-footed in pursuit of balls hit to the gaps.

The other downside is that the Red Sox supposedly backed off their pursuit of Bay due to concerns that he would eventually need knee surgery. Who knows?

Unless and until that happens, Bay’s steady production from left field should come as a welcome relief for a team that has fielded such luminaries as Cory Sullivan, Jeremy Reed, Wilson Valdez, Damion Easley, Marlon Anderson and David Newhan (among other, better-hitting players) in the spot in the past three years.

The Major League left fielders in September: Bay and Angel Pagan.

Assuming Carlos Beltran returns to health, Pagan becomes the primary backup outfielder. That may not necessarily spell the end for Catalanotto, of course. I’m speculating on the fringes of the roster in September. We’ll see what happens.

How they stack up: I don’t think Raul Ibanez is likely to repeat his 2009 performance on either side of the ball in 2010, meaning Bay is probably the class of the N.L. East left-fielders. The Marlins’ Chris Coghlan is a nice young player who will only get better, but he doesn’t have the power to stack up to Bay just yet.

The Mets announced a round of cuts last night, trimming from their big-league roster Nelson Figueroa, Kiko Calero, Chris Carter, Bobby Parnell, Russ Adams and Elmer Dessens.

I’ll weigh in on some of these moves more later today when I get to my bullpen preview. I’m waiting to see exactly how the Mets intend to shape their relief corps before I pen my final preseason Jenrry Mejia freakout.

I’ll say now that it’s a bit puzzling that the team will opt for three or possibly four pitchers in its Major League bullpen who did not throw a pitch in The Show last year over Kiko Calero, who pitched to a 1.95 ERA with 10.4 K/9 for the Marlins last year. Word is he’ll need more time to strengthen up and stretch out, and here’s hoping he stops by Anchor Bar while he’s doing that. Those wings are delicious.

Something I’ve learned from several years of fretting over the margins of the Mets’ roster is that these Opening Day moves don’t matter a whole ton. They may not be indicative of the world’s most promising thought process, but ultimately, the Mets will futz with their roster a dozen times in April, and at some point a proven professional like Calero should find his way onto the team. If and when he doesn’t, and when Jerry Manuel keeps trotting out some obviously lesser pitcher over and over, that’s when we raise hell.

The concerning cut among last night’s group — the one that would be perplexing if it wasn’t entirely predictable — is Figueroa. Not only did the veteran right-hander represent the Mets’ most proven insurance policy for the starting rotation, he pitched well this spring and has said he would go pitch in Japan if he didn’t make the Major League roster.

We shall see, I suppose. Figueroa grew up a Mets fan, and we tend to come crawling back. There’s some chance the Mets talked it through with Figueroa, or called his bluff, and know he’ll actually accept an assignment to Buffalo should he clear waivers.

If the Mets lose Figueroa, it will be another strike against Omar Minaya and his staff. No one’s arguing Figgy’s a Cy Young Award hopeful, but given the state of the Mets’ rotation, it’s wacky to put faith in Hisanori Takahashi and Fernando Nieve as fill-in options — two guys with big-league resumes far shorter than Figueroa’s — just because you’re eager to get Sean Green on the Major League roster to start the season.

I think the most interesting thing about the cuts, though, has been the reaction throughout the Mets’ blogosphere.

Back in the day — and I’m not calling “first,” here, this isn’t that — when I would bitch and moan about the 25th man on the Mets’ roster, most of the other voices in the Mets’ blogosphere, and especially comments sections, poo-pooed it. It seemed like John Peterson from Blastings! Thrilledge and I got really worked up over some moves, and few others paid much mind.

Now, it seems in every corner, Mets fans are lining up to rip the front office for this series of decisions. It’s always fun for the sabermetric sort to whine about the 12th pitcher on the staff, but it’s a pretty damning indictment when the entire fanbase turns on a general manager. I’m starting to think 2010 will be an interesting season for the Mets.

Remember when I said I might run out of steam with these season preview pieces? I’ll be honest: I’m getting there. Turns out the week before the baseball season starts is a busy time at a regional sports network, and I’ve been a little under the weather on top of that.

But I’m halfway there, and though I don’t imagine anyone much cares, I’m determined to finish. These will probably be getting progressively shorter though. Here goes this one:

The Major League shortstops in April: Jose Reyes, Alex Cora, perhaps a week of Ruben Tejada

Overview: OK, hear me out: Opening Day is meaningless. It is a pageant. It’s fun, and it’s about my favorite day of the year, but the only thing that will distinguish the game the Mets will play on Monday from the 161 other games they’ll play in 2010 is all the red, white and blue bunting.

Bunting is awesome, don’t get me wrong. I love me some bunting. The decorative kind, not the productive-out kind. I really don’t like that kind.

Anyway, I have no idea why so many people are making such a big stink over the fact that Jose Reyes will sit out Opening Day.

No, that’s not true. I know exactly why people are making a big stink over the fact that Jose Reyes will sit out Opening Day. People love making big stinks, and no matter what the Mets do these days people are bound to make a big stink over it.

But what matters is that it doesn’t much matter. Yeah, the Mets would have a much better chance of winning their first four or five games with Reyes at shortstop than with Cora or Tejada, but it’s not as if having Reyes in the lineup guarantees victories and having him out guarantees otherwise, no matter how anyone makes it seems.

And given the way things went down for the Mets and Reyes last season, I find it hard to fault the team for playing it safe with the shortstop early this season. They’re better off losing him for a couple of games to start the year — “babying” him, if you will — than taking any sort of chance that he’ll push himself before he’s fully stretched out and ready to go and re-injure his hamstring or tweak something else.

The Mets need to maximize the amount of time Jose Reyes spends on the field in 2010 because Jose Reyes is awesome at baseball. It’s easy to forget that because we haven’t seen him play the sport regularly in so long, but the dude is damn near magnificent.

There’s what we see on paper: He plays competent defense at the sport’s most demanding position, gets on at a good clip from from the leadoff spot, hits for some power, and steals lots of bases at a high rate.

And then there’s all that stuff that slips through the spreadsheets: Dancing, bouncing, smiling Jose Reyes, one of the game’s most exciting players, engaging the fans and enraging the opposition.

So I guess, when I think about it that way, I can understand some of the apparent bitterness toward the club for holding Reyes out of the opener. I so, so badly want to see Jose Reyes play baseball again.

But I am patient. It will happen soon enough. And it will be awesome.

The Major League shortstops in September: Reyes, Cora

It’s going to suck hardcore if Reyes gets hurt again. If that happens, slot in Tejada. (Remember, I promised no more Cora-fueled rants until Opening Day, which is why none are included in this preview.)

How they stack up: The N.L. East is an excellent division for shortstops. If Reyes stays healthy, he should be better than all of them but Hanley Ramirez, who is on his own plane.

There are a few people, or entities, who make me giggle every single time I see them in a photograph: Bill Clinton, Mr. Met… Actually, that might be it. I can’t think of any others off hand.

Huge, huge hat tip to Craig Calcaterra for pointing me to this, from Talking Points Memo:

Sorry, Shaq and a panda. You had such a good run as my desktop background since unseating this epic would-be buddy movie poster.

I keep saying I’ll keep these brief, then writing really long posts. This one I promise I’ll actually keep brief.

The Major League third basemen in April: David Wright, Fernando Tatis.

Overview: David Wright had, for him, a down season in 2009. Just about everyone who has ever seen a baseball game, and seemingly many people who haven’t, has some guess why it happened. It was the ballpark. It was the pressure. It was Tony Bernazard’s opposite-field approach. It was the lineup around him. It was his mechanics.

Who knows? Who cares? Last season was last season. As my colleague Mike Salfino pointed out last month, single-season fluctuations like the one Wright endured in 2009 are not unheard of for superstar players. Check out Mike Schmidt’s 1978, for example.

And the good news is that a bad year for Wright is still an awesome year for a regular Major Leaguer. Wright’s power output dipped and his strikeout total spiked, but he still got on base at a .390 clip.

Whatever leech sucked out Wright’s home-run power apparently also sapped up his ability to defend at third base in 2009, thrilling talk-radio types who’ve been saying for years that he wouldn’t last at the position. After two straight seasons of positive defensive contributions, as measured by both UZR and +/-, Wright fell to last among qualifiers in UZR and 33rd in +/- in 2010.

It was, undoubtedly, a weird year for the Mets’ young star. Here’s the thing, though: Don’t bet on any of it to continue. Superstars don’t become superstars by rolling over in the face of adversity, and I’ll wager David Wright spent his offseason doing everything in his power to correct whatever ailed him in 2009.

The gun show he gave the New York Post early this spring? Part of that, I’m certain.

Wright will bounce back in 2010. Mark that down.

The Major League third basemen in September: Wright, Tatis.

Duh.

How they stack up: Wright is better than Placido Polanco and Jorge Cantu. It’s very hard to bet against Chipper Jones, but Larry had a down year at the plate last year, has a history of injury issues, and will be 38 later this month. There’s some chance he’ll return to his Hall of Fame form, stay healthy and hit well enough to outproduce Wright, but I’m not willing to consider that possibility, because frankly, screw that guy.

Ryan Zimmerman played better than Wright did in 2009 on both sides of the ball, and there’s been some buzz around the Internet that he’s now the better overall third baseman. I’m skeptical. Zimmerman’s certainly a better defender, but I find it hard to believe he’s anywhere near as good a hitter as Wright on the strength of one good year. In 2007 and 2008, after all, Zimmerman was little better than league-average at the plate.

Regardless, both young third baseman are great, and since they’re not actually in competition, it doesn’t matter. If Zimmerman again performs like he did in 2009 or continues improving as young players do, and Wright returns to the form he showed in 2007 and 2008, it will take a lengthy debate to determine the N.L. East’s best. And I promised I’d be brief.

According to the New York Post, “Jerry Manuel doesn’t expect to have his roster finalized until Sunday’s deadline” but Raul Valdes “continues to impress the manager as a possible lefty specialist.”

Man. Normally I’d say there’s no way any Major League team is picking its roster based on gut decisions made off its final couple of Spring Training games. But I’ve been following the Mets for the last few years, and I know that all bets are off when it comes to guessing how this team filling out its roster.

Who is Raul Valdes? I was going to investigate, but in poking around, I found that James Kannengieser used all the same resources I planned to use in a post to Amazin’ Avenue earlier this week. So check that out.

But the most important thing about Raul Valdes is that he’s not Jenrry Mejia, and so his inclusion on the Major League bullpen would, in theory, take up one of the spots Mejia is fighting for. So that’s cool.

According to ESPN New York, Mejia is “60/40” for a spot in the Major League bullpen. Huh. All the comments from Omar Minaya and Manuel sure make it sound a lot more toward the 60 side (and so not 60 at all, then), but I’ll hold out hope for the 40.

Actually, it’s beautiful today, so I’m holding out hope for a 40 regardless.

But only because they discontinued the 64.