Memories of Juan Lagares 1.0/2.0

G-Fafif · February 10, 2020

The old Gold Glove is a new Friar.

Absolutely where extra base hits went to die. For a time, a Mex/Rey-Rey level defender.

Feels like he missed the past three or four seasons but was fully healthy in 2019. High-priced pinch-runner toward the end.

Really liked him. Good luck, Juanny Beisbol.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Guest

kcmets · February 10, 2020

Obi-Juan

February 10, 2020

Seemingly covered all of Flushing during his Gold Glove years!

LWFS · February 10, 2020

Dang.

If memory serves, I feel as if he saved more Gee and Niese bacon than any other Met pitchers'.

Edgy MD · February 10, 2020

Can't think of anything douchey he ever did, given plenty of time. Seemingly invented a new way of making outs, and Keith Hernandez may be the only other Met I can write that about.

batmagadanleadoff · February 10, 2020

Edgy MD wrote:

Seemingly invented a new way of making outs....

With his glove, too.

LWFS · February 11, 2020

God, if that uppercut/see more pitches thing he was trying had worked, just a little. We would have had ourselves the Kiermaier we thought we did.

seawolf17 · February 11, 2020

I think we'll remember him more fondly than the numbers will say. Won a Gold Glove in his second season but never *quite* got that magic back.

Basically Buddy Harrelson in the outfield, with a little more pop.

Johnny Lunchbucket · February 11, 2020

Best memory of Lagares was attending one of his very first starts with the Lunchpail. It was a shitty game, the Mets lost, the giveaway was a joke (Some Marvel movie cup with zero Met content), but Lagares made a catch on a ball off the bat I was so accustomed to seeing land as a hit it shocked me. It was one of those shallow dying quails that guys routinely pull up on and play on the hop, Lagares got there to make the catch and didn't even seem to be busting it. It reminded me of vintage Ordonez.

He only got a chance after we cycled through a bunch of pretenders out there-- was cowgill one of them?-- and it I was convinced then and there they finally had the right guy out there.

Unfortunately he didn't improve enough offensively

Edgy MD · February 11, 2020

Other Mets centerfielders during Lagares' rookie season:

Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 25 g

Rick Ankiel: 17 g

Matt den Dekker: 16 g

Collin Cowgill: 17 g

Jordany Valdespin: 16 g

Eric Young, Jr.: 8 g

Marlon Byrd: 2 g

Johnny Lunchbucket · February 11, 2020

Here's that game, talking about Laggy then in what was his 2nd start and 5th MLB appearance: http://archives.thecranepool.net/19400/f14_t19465.shtmlhttp://archives.thecranepool.net/19400/f14_t19465.shtml

Phillies 5, Mets 1: http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=8227&tabno=Dhttp://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=8227&tabno=D

ashie62 · February 11, 2020

He just couldn't hit or stay healthy

RealityChuck · February 11, 2020

What I remember most of him was that whenever I saw a "play of the week" roundup, it included at catch by Lagares.

batmagadanleadoff · February 11, 2020

smg58 · February 11, 2020

I think he led the Mets in WAR in 2014. That glove with even a .700 OPS was a huge asset. But that season was the outlier offensively (and defensively too, but he was still elite for a while). And then there were the injuries that just didn't stop. I was super bullish on him for a long time.

Benjamin Grimm · February 11, 2020

Schaefer Mets Player of the Month in August 2014. Also won the "Bench" award twice.

http://leaptoad.com/mets/cards/JuanLagares1971.jpg> http://leaptoad.com/mets/cards/JuanLagares1973.jpg>

Lefty Specialist · February 11, 2020

Kept waiting for the bat to catch up with the glove. It never did. Got injured and a little pudgy at times, which didn't help.

Edgy MD · February 11, 2020

This also elevates Jacob deGrom, I believe, to longest-tenured New York Met.

bmfc1 · July 22, 2020

Juan is back (as suggested during the Zoom call the other night).

Lefty Specialist · July 22, 2020

Marisnick tight hammy may be the reason.

Benjamin Grimm · July 22, 2020

So Brodie was listening in on the Zoom call, huh?

bmfc1 · July 22, 2020

Benjamin Grimm wrote:

So Brodie was listening in on the Zoom call, huh?

He was the one using his wife's phone and never pictured.

G-Fafif · July 22, 2020

Never should have been in another uniform to begin with — not to be confused with too good to have let leave in the first place.

MFS62 · July 22, 2020

Somehow, I feel the team is now complete with him here.

Later

Edgy MD · July 22, 2020

Me and Brodie work on the same wavelength.

Benjamin Grimm · July 22, 2020

[YOUTUBE]Mmm3KTa601s[/YOUTUBE]

G-Fafif · February 7, 2021

Hot numbers in the winter league yielded reheated interest for Juan's services in the Southern California market.

Few new memories for Juan's semi-recidivist 2020 Mets return. Got doubled off as a pinch-runner. Caught three fly balls after staying/coming in for defense and of course wore one egregiously wrong number (87) before being assigned something closer to his 12 (15).

Gosh, considering the man played three innings total, that's a lot of memories, or more of a concrete nature than the previous 15, Brian Dozier, generated.

Baseball-Reference pegs Juan's eight-season career WAR at 12.4, indicating a bWAR love of defense. They gave him 0.1 for his three 2020 innings. By comparison, Ed Kranepool, in 18 seasons, posted a career bWAR of 4.3, as if 1,418 hits and forum-naming inspiration isn't analytically sound.

Either way, good luck to Anaheim Juan, who approaches the American League two hits shy of 500. May it go better than it did for San Diego Juan.

Johnny Lunchbucket · February 7, 2021

87 was just wrong

Edgy MD · February 7, 2021

They're gonna need a centerfielder when they trade Troutski.

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