Mets need to find roles for Wilmer Flores and Juan Lagares

If you go way way back in Mets history you know that the earliest off seasons featured the team’s front office just trying to add some major league caliber players to the roster. But if you fast forward to the modern era of bullpen usage you know that one off season task the Mets continually have is fixing the bullpen. And once again it is something that has to be addressed in the next few months.

But a pair of extremely important tasks involve a middle infielder and a middle outfielder. If we assume that neither Wilmer Flores nor Juan Lagares gets traded then the GM and manager will have to carve out roles for their 2016 season. Actually were the Mets to gamble and trade for the enigmatic Yasiel Puig it is certainly possible that Lagares could be partial payment in that swap.

In Wilmer’s case the team is saying one thing but seemingly acting differently. What we hear is that they are ready to once again go with Flores as the team’s #1 shortstop. But the rumor mill has them checking in on any and everyone who might be able to cover the position for them.

My opinion, often stated in my weekly articles, is that Flores lacks the range and fluidity required to play an acceptable shortstop at the major league level. This is not to say that Wilmer Flores is not a talent deserving of a full, or at least a close to fulltime job. With the power to hit 15 or more homeruns and play multiple infield positions there should be a job for him. It’s just that that job probably should not be day-in-day-out shortstop.

In a best case scenario the Mets can land a better defensive shortstop (not that hard to do) and have him be someone who can contribute offensively (now there’s the rub). If that is done then the Mets could either slide Flores over to second base or should he lose a spring training competition with Dilson Herrera then he could become the backup at every infield position. Knowing the precariousness of David Wright’s spinal stenosis it could mean extensive duty at third base. One can easily imagine Flores logging 400 at bats while providing all the infielders periodic days off.

In Lagares’ case the questions are twofold. One is how healthy and serviceable is his right elbow. If the winter months bring a full healing then Juan can go back to being a plus plus defender whose defensive contribution will make up for the fact that he is really not much of a hitter.

On the other hand if his elbow continues barking and his arm strength continues to be more like Curtis Granderson’s than Yoenis Cespedes’ it is most likely that he will have to become the short half of a centerfield platoon. Then the question is with whom he would share the position. The in-house choices are underwhelming and include Kirk Nieuwenheis and Darrel Ceciliani. Perhaps there might be a Brandon Nimmo sighting here if he starts off promisingly at double-A or triple-A.

More likely the Mets will be going the trade or free agent route to bring in an outfielder capable of being the long half of the platoon. Popular names out there include Geraldo Parra, Dexter Fowler, and perhaps Boston’s Jackie Bradley.

It will be most interesting to see how GM Alderson handles the Flores and Lagares situations.