Lagares was so good, that the Mets quickly locked him up and gave a him long-term contract, at a time when clubs were starting to see the benefit of signing young talent early on. But then, as things were going well, and the Mets became relevant and were in a pennant race, the team made one of the most popular moves in team history…they acquired Yoenis Cespedes.

The acquisition of Cespedes was great for the team, but it was horrible for Lagares. He became the odd man out in an outfield that desperately needed him. And it showed on the big stage in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series.

With Cespedes playing centerfield, the very first batter hit a ball that, with Lagares in there, is caught gracefully as he would have been gliding back. Instead, Cespedes, more of a leftfielder than anything else, misjudged it and it went over his head.

It was very reminiscent of Don Buford hitting a home run off of Tom Seaver in Game 1 of the 1969 World Series, a ball that Ron Swoboda admitted that he COULD have caught if he hadn’t misjudged it. That Series would, of course, turn out better than the 2015 Series did for the Mets.

In the meantime, while Cespedes became the focal point for the Mets, and rightfully so, Lagares went from Gold Glove centerfielder with some pretty good offensive skills to an afterthought…a late inning defensive replacement who suddenly couldn’t hit the ball off of a tee.

Lagares had power but did not hit more than six home runs in a season. He had speed but in his eight seasons with the Mets he averaged 10 stolen bases a year. Combine that with a .254 batting average, and it just wasn’t enough offense to make the Mets to covet his defensive prowess which started to decline, perhaps from a lack of consistent playing time.

And that is the shame of it all. Because Lagares was a pretty damn good athlete. In fact, Lagares was one of the few who survived a position change and proved that it IS possible to move from shortstop to centerfield. Some others who accomplished the move from middle infield to the outfield were Hall of Famers Craig Biggio and Robin Yount who both did it seamlessly without a problem.

The Mets, however, usually ruined careers with position changes over the years.

The Mets asked Howard Johnson to move to centerfield and it ruined him. He couldn’t play centerfield and he could no longer hit. They famously, or infamously, traded for Juan Samuel and put him in centerfield. It was horrifying to watch. And then HE couldn’t hit. Todd Hundley was exiled to left field when Mike Piazza arrived and that went just as bad.

But the one who WAS able to do it was Juan Lagares. He was good enough to make that transition and it worked. He may not have been the hitter of Agee, Mazzilli, Wilson, or Beltran, but Lagares sure could play centerfield with the best of them.