Just Mets

For most of the first half of the 2015 season, the story about the Mets woes both offensively and defensively have surrounded their infielders primarily.

But as unproductive as much of their infield has been so far in 2015, their outfield has proven to be far more problematic to this point in the year.

Of course, it’s easy to point the finger at Michael Cuddyer, who has unquestionably struggled to produce below average marks both offensively and defensively.

At times anyway, Curtis Granderson has been a focal point of the Mets woes, both in his throwing, his up and down bat, and his ineptitude against left-handed pitching (he’s hit just .133 with a .375 OPS against southpaws this season). Although for the most part, Granderson has had a pretty solid year.

But it was Juan Lagares who was supposed to help stabilize the outfield. He’s a homegrown talent who came out of nowhere to create a standard of excellence in center field during the 2013 season, winning a Gold Glove in 2014 and earning himself a five-year, $23 million contract extension during spring training this past March.

The Mets assigned this dollar value to Lagares more so for his defense than his offense. While he showed flashes of production during the 2014 season, he only produced a .321 on-base percentage and a .703 OPS thanks in part to swinging at 35.7 percent of pitches outside the strike zone.

With the contract extension, the Mets were banking on his ability to play Gold Glove caliber defense with hopes his offense might continue to mature.

Unfortunately, neither have been the case to date in 2015.

Lagares’ plate discipline has actually become worse statistically, as he’s swung at 37.5 percent of pitches outside the strike zone and his overall swing rate has increased by four percentage points since last year.

The sum total of this is a .281 on-base percentage overall, and a .265 on-base percentage against right-handed pitching. He has not drawn a walk since June 17, which is his only walk since May 29 and a .268 OBP during that span.

No matter who the player is, those figures are not acceptable for an everyday player.

What’s worse, his defense has regressed to modestly higher than league average (and only recently has his defense improved to this point). He has recorded five defensive runs saved while posting a 6.3 ultimate zone rating.

Of course, these problems defensively could be attributed to some of the injuries Lagares has played through for most of the year. He injured his side colliding with Cuddyer in the outfield on May 5, and has a ligament problem in his elbow which has dwarfed his ability to throw. It now seems more and more teams are attempting the extra base – with no contest – from Lagares.

But his range has also clearly been diminished as well, and that has nothing to do with his elbow. Or, it shouldn’t anyway.

Sure, he’s been able to make all of the routine plays. But there have been plays – like the two in the sixth inning on Friday which shouldn’t have presented a high degree of difficulty for Lagares – which haven’t been made which the club has banked on his ability to make.

Now, it’s hard to fault a player for not making every play which aren’t necessarily routine. And in fairness to Lagares, the ball off of Jason Hayward’s bat in the sixth inning which Lagares didn’t get to at the wall and the ball off of Kolten Wong’s bat which dropped in front of him for a single were hardly routine.

But that doesn’t mean those plays don’t need to be made by Lagares, or any other big league center fielder. And, it’s a good bet those plays were made in 2014, and the end result is entirely different in that inning.

The thing is, if Lagares isn’t going to hit – which he hasn’t for the most part in 2015 – the defense must be there and the run prevention must be at a maximum. But for whatever reason, the defense hasn’t played to expectation in 2015, which drags down whoever is in the corner outfield positions and weakens an already sub-part defense behind the pitching staff.

This is a problem, and a key reason why the Mets might be targeting an upgrade in the outfield this summer.

That’s not to say the Mets will transition Lagares into a part-time player if they acquire a new outfielder. His defense is still better than most despite the dramatic tail off this season. It seems more likely the Mets would design a platoon in one corner outfield spot and find someone for the other while leaving Lagares in center field, especially since it seems Terry Collins is willing to sit Cuddyer for someone who might be better able to produce.

Of course, they don’t truly have that player on the roster, but the message should have been received when Collins sat Cuddyer on Friday for what he claimed to be production reasons.

But the question is, how do they get more out of Lagares in his current state? This may be who he is as a hitter, so the Mets need to figure out how to get Lagares back to the player they signed this past March.

If it’s due to injury, then the choice is obvious. But if it isn’t, the problem only grows larger over the next 5 1/2 years.