Juan Lagares has been diagnosed with inflammation in his knee. Lagares had the knee checked out in New York, but it's obviously not a major concern. He might have to ease up on his workouts for a couple weeks, but it won't affect his availability for the start of spring training.

Juan Lagares wrote on his Twitter account that he is on his way back to New York to have his knee checked out. Lagares wrote a follow-up tweet which said that "everything is good my people," so it doesn't appear to be a major concern, but it's something to keep an eye on. The 24-year-old batted .242/.281/.352 over 421 plate appearances this past season and his defensive prowess should give him the leg up on the starting center field job in 2014, if healthy.

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.

Juan Lagares is unavailable for Thursday's game against the Brewers. Lagares became a father early Thursday morning, so he's getting the night off. Matt Den Dekker will start in center field Thursday while Mike Baxter plays right.

Juan Lagares went 3-for-4 with an RBI double versus the Phillies in Sunday's victory. Lagares entered with a .174 average in 69 at-bats for the month. He's probably going to be the Mets' center fielder next year regardless of how he finishes out this season, but it'd still be nice if he picked it up a little. His glove is way ahead of his bat at this point of his career.

Juan Lagares went 3-for-5 with two RBI against the Nationals on Saturday. Lagares has cooled since his scorching July, but he's still playing almost everyday for the lowly Mets. The outfielder is batting .266/.303/.394 through 95 games.

Juan Lagares went 2-for-4 with three RBI in the Mets' 3-2 win over the Rockies on Tuesday. Lagares drove in all three of the Mets' runs, tripling in two in the bottom of the first before driving in the winning run in two eighth. The outfielder has struggled to follow up on his scorching .353/.408/.529 month of July, but he's entrenched as a starter in the Mets outfield and is still a solid option in NL-only leagues for the rest of the year.

Juan Lagares went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the Mets' 4-2 win over the Marlins in 10 innings on Tuesday. Lagares has been absolutely on fire in July, going 24-for-65 (.369) with eight multi-hit games. Lagares plated two with a triple in the fourth inning, giving the Mets an early 2-0 lead. His torrid month has raised his overall line to .275/.307/.412, and he's a viable mixed league option in deeper leagues while he's hitting like this.

Juan Lagares went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, two steals and three runs scored in the first game of Friday's doubleheader against the Nationals. Lagares is 11-for-22 with six extra-base hits since the All-Star break after batting .234/.255/.340 with a 38/4 K/BB ratio in 141 at-bats in the first half. The steals were his first two in 60 games as a big leaguer; he had been 0-for-2 previously. Mets manager Terry Collins said after the game that he's doing enough to start playing everyday.

Juan Lagares went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer in Sunday's win over the Phillies. Lagares' shot off Cliff Lee in the fourth inning pushed New York's lead to 5-0. Pitching became stingy after that and the Mets held on to win by the same score. The 24-year-old Lagares enjoyed a spectacular opening second half series, going 7-for-10 (.700) with three extra-base hits and five RBI in three games against the Phillies. He's been less impressive the rest of the season, posting a .265/.284/.397 slash line.