The Mets shutdown Juan Lagares last September 16 with what the team described as a sprain in his right elbow.
Without describing the nature of the injury, Terry Collins has referenced Lagares’ elbow at times during this season, suggesting he has dealt with lingering soreness in his elbow all year. The club has asked him to be conservative with his throwing and only be aggressive in more meaningful situations.
On Thursday afternoon, Collins was a little more descriptive in describing the nature of Lagares’ injury, suggesting Tommy John Surgery could remedy his problem.
“There’s only a couple of things you can do,” Collins explained. “One would be to have Tommy John and the other would be to rest it and just be careful. They said Carlos Gomez has exactly the same type of thing. If you take care of it, he’s a position player, so he can play with this. … We just have to be careful that he doesn’t get crazy and make an awkward throw or try to overthrow too much.”
When asked about the possibility of Lagares undergoing Tommy John Surgery, Sandy Alderson downplayed the situation.
“It’s not anything we’re looking at,” Alderson said, who was caught off-guard with the question. “It’s not an issue. He has soreness in the elbow.”
Collins did say the injury to Lagares’ rib and armpit he sustained on May 5 has improved dramatically.
“The rib injury is going away. So that’s not a factor,” Collins said. “He’s swinging the bat real well right now.”
The lack of life and accuracy on Lagares’ throws have been quite evident this season. His range has been ever so slightly diminished as well, presumably because of the rib injury which Collins said mostly affected his running and reach. But, he’s still a fabulous and premiere center fielder in this league, and now that the rib injury has vastly improved, he should return to form in short order.
As for his arm, this really isn’t a surprise. It’s been clear something isn’t right and it’s a continuance of what shut him down prematurely in 2014. Obviously, if Lagares were to require such a procedure, that would sideline him for about a year. It’s different for position players than it is for pitchers, but in the case of an outfielder, if it becomes prohibitive to the point opposing teams are running at will against him or the accuracy and velocity are greatly diminished, it might be something to eventually consider.
At any rate, this is probably not something the front office wanted revealed if it is in fact the case, for the reasons mentioned above. The last thing the club needs is another known liability and teams running at will on all three outfielders.
According to FanGraphs, Lagares has -1 defensive runs saved in 2015, compared to 28 in 2014 when he won the Gold Glove. His UZR is 0 in 2015, compared to 18.6 in 2014.
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