Team photo of Juan Lagares today during practice in DWL
Mets center fielder Juan Lagares is now training as a non-roster player in the Dominican Winter League and a source told Michael Mayer of MMO he is hoping to start playing in games as soon as next week.
The source also said that Lagares is awaiting approval from the Mets before he is added to the roster of the Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League.
At the GM Meetings last week, we learned that Lagares will not require surgery to correct the issue that diminished his throwing capability this past season after he was examined by team doctors.
Lagares, who won a Gold Glove award after the 2014 season, was clearly limited to begin the year and was under team orders not to throw the ball at full throttle for the first three months of the season after resting his sore elbow during the Winter.
Still, Lagares was too tentative on throws and it limited his effectiveness defensively.
“I will take the responsibility,” manager Terry Collins said back in September. “I’m the one guy in spring training who said, ‘We cannot blow this guy out — he’s too big, too important,’ and therefore all of a sudden one of the most important parts of his game was gone, was missing. And I think it changed the way he plays the game a little bit.”
Lagares, 26, signed a four-year contract worth $23 million and runs through the 2019 season. The includes a $9.5 million team option for 2020, with a $500,000 buyout. He lost his regular starting job in center once the Mets acquired Yoenis Cespedes.
However after mediocre offensive results for most of the season, Lagares heeded the advice of new teammate Juan Uribe and began taking a more patient approach to his plate appearances which resulted in a .281 batting average for the final five weeks of the season with a .367 on-base percentage and a .767 OPS.
He carried that success into the postseason where he was second only to Curtis Granderson offensively, yielding a .348/.375/.435 batting line with a .810 OPS. He batted 8-for-23 with two stolen bases and seven runs scored. But more importantly were how impressive his at-bats were including four in which he saw 10 pitches or more.
The Mets plan to find someone they could pair with Lagares this winter. One player they are considering is Gerardo Parra, who owns a career .289/.335/.432 line against right-handed pitching. Parra split time with the Brewers and Orioles in 2015 and hit .291 with 14 home runs and 51 RBIs. Defensively, he’s a Gold Glove corner outfielder, but he has played 186 games in center field.
