April 28
The Mets announced that Juan Lagares will play for Triple-A Las Vegas tonight when they take on Reno.
April 27
Juan Lagares officially began a rehab assignment on Sunday and went 1-for-4 for the St. Lucie Mets in the Florida State League.
Lagares, who was placed on the DL with a right hamstring strain, played center field and batted leadoff for St. Lucie.
He is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday, but will likely join the team in Colorado on Thursday when the Mets begin a four game series with the Rockies.
Look for him to play one more rehab game in St. Lucie before jetting to Vegas for a pair.
April 27
Center fielder Juan Lagares is eligible to come off the disabled list on Wednesday after being sidelined by a pulled right hamstring. However, manager Terry Collins is unsure about a timetable for his return.
The Mets manager said Lagares could end up getting assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas while the Mets play their four-game series in Colorado beginning next Thursday.
“He’s had several at-bats in the extended spring (training),” Collins said. “He’s got about 13 or 14. Some of them, he hasn’t run, but he’s getting at-bats. We’re hoping that certainly by the time we get out to Colorado that he will have been in Vegas and starting to play.”
After making the comment about not running, the Mets then contacted reporters and clarified that Lagares is running and has played in two extended spring training games, going 2 for 7 with two doubles and a run scored.
If Lagares does miss the Rockies series as Collins hints, it means he’ll be out longer than 15 days and more like 20 days.
I don’t understand why they haven’t had Lagares already playing rehab games at Las Vegas or anywhere else considering he told followers on Twitter and Instagram that he feels great, is running at full speed, and playing games in Port St. Lucie.
It could be Collins simply trying to delay a decision on how to divide playing time between all his outfielders.
Still, if that is the reason, it’s sad that the manager wouldn’t want his top producing offensive player back as soon as he is eligible.
Lagares was hitting .314 when he got hurt which would be a boost to a team ranked second-to-last in Major League Baseball with a .219 team batting average.
Also, it’s become very apparent how the defense has dropped in center field since Lagares has been out and it’s safe to say that Chris Young is in no way in Lagares’ class. Nobody is.
