I wanted to comment on yesterday’ report by Mike Puma of the New York Post, who pretty much said a Mets source told him that the front office was unsure about non-tendering Andres Torres.

Let me dispense with all the pleasantries and simply say that Andres Torres was a colossal failure in 2012.

We were sold a bill of goods that not only would Torres be a suitable replacement for Angel Pagan in centerfield, but defensively he was going to be an upgrade.

Both Terry Collins and Sandy Alderson anointed him as the leadoff hitter as soon as the trade was announced. Mind you, from the Giants point of view, he was about to be cut and non-tendered, but he ended up getting tossed in the deal at Alderson’s request.

As it turned out Angel Pagan not only had a great season for the Giants, but ended up being the missing piece to their World Series quest. Good for him. The Giants will either re-sign him to a multi year deal, or they’ll make him a qualifying offer and get a first round pick for him. Either way, Pagan will cash in and deservedly so, and the Giants walk away as the huge winners in that fiasco…

Let me sidetrack a little more…

Remember when Alderson went on WFAN and promised “wholesale changes”? He made it sound like the entire team would be turned over and that nobody was safe. Who was the one that posted 15 minutes later and called “bullshit” on that claim? That would be me. While most Mets fans salivated at his every word and became mesmerized by that claim, all the signs still point to the fact that “wholesale changes” are very unlikely.

There will no significant additions to the team via free agency. Alderson said, “I don’t expect to make any major acquisitions via the free agent market”. That much is clear.

He also said, “There will be more substantial changes [at catcher and in the outfield] than subtle changes.”

That’s the point where the interview became laughable for me.

A week later he was singing the praises of Lucas Duda as one of the teams “most valuable pieces to our future”, and then reiterated “I can assure you we have no plans to cut Jason Bay and he will report to spring training with the rest of his teammates”.

And now, we hear that they are still unsure of whether they should bring back Andres Torres?

Does anybody in the front office have any idea or clue as to what they are doing?

Here’s the wholesale changes I predicted in the outfield…

Their top producing outfielder, Scott Hairston, will be gone with no compensation. None. Teams were hot for him at the trade deadline, but they hung on to him and now they’ll simply watch him walk out the door. Pretty sure either the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox will be where he ultimately ends up.

That’s it. That’s your wholesale changes.

Jason Bay will be back, you can bet on it. He’s not an immovable contract, but with this front office he certainly is. They are seriously challenged when it comes to the creativity needed to pull off such a deal. Creativity is the first thing to go when you only have a methodical approach to everything. All issues are over-analyzed. Negotiations drag on until the other team gets tired and hangs up.

Lucas Duda will be back too. Even those who thought Alderson gloated about him as a way to make him more desirable to other teams, are not that brainless to believe that he has any value at all to any team. His value is less than zero. The minor leagues are full of players like Lucas Duda.

Plus, if any of the other 29 teams are looking for an outfielder, the last place they’d look to is the New York Mets who had the least productive outfield in two decades of major league baseball. Duda is our problem and nobody else’s. He’s also our platoon left fielder in 2013 along with Jason Bay.

It’s obvious that Kirk Nieuwenhuis will man either center field or right field everyday next season. Nobody disputes that. His 175 strikeouts will be a permanent fixture somewhere in the middle of the order too, as a replacement for Hairston.

That brings us back to Andres Torres…

Can you imagine bringing back Torres for $3 million dollars?

Someone needs to get that on AMC’s Fear Fest.