Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Juan Lagares and Chris Young will compete for the center field job. The favorite isn't who you'd expect, judging from Alderson's quotes. "This is an issue that came up with Chris, and I actually think there were other clubs that offered to play him in center field without condition," Alderson said. "In our case we talked about Juan, talked about his defensive ability, his need to be more productive offensively. We didn't rule out Chris playing center field by any means. But I told him, and I think Terry [Collins] told him as well, that the best player defensively -- assuming that there's productivity offensively -- will play center field." Young is a fine defensive player, but the offensively-challenged Lagares is elite. Young signed a one-year, $7.25 million deal on Tuesday. "I talked to the Mets about the possibility of playing some center and playing some right field," he said.