Mets checking in on familiar OF as Lagares replacement

The Mets like what they have seen of Denard Span throughout the years, but they want to see more before asking him to help defend the National League championship.

The center fielder, who turns 31 in February, will meet with interested teams to prove his good health, his agent Scott Boras confirmed Friday. The Mets are among the teams that intend to meet with Span in the Tampa area, where he grew up and makes his offseason home, after the New Year. Boras said in a telephone interview Span already had convened with some clubs that want to sign him.

Span played in just 61 games for the Nationals in 2015, with a slash-line of .301/.365/.431. He missed time with three different injuries. He underwent surgery on the rectus abdominis muscle in his right side in March, causing him to miss the start of the season; he suffered from back spasms in July, sidelining him for more than a month; and on Sept. 1, he had season-ending hip surgery to repair a torn labrum. That’s the same condition suffered by other ballplayers, including the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez (once on each hip) and the Blue Jays’ Troy Tulowitzki.

ESPN first reported Boras notified teams of Span’s availability for workouts with individual teams. Boras said Span would not be deploying baseball skills in these workouts, but rather displaying his viability in conditioning drills.

In Juan Lagares, the Mets have a righty-hitting center fielder who struggled greatly to hit right-handed pitching last season. The lefty-swinging Span’s presence would allow the Mets to utilize Lagares as a fourth outfielder. The Mets also have spoken with the representatives for free-agent, lefty-hitting center fielder Gerardo Parra, and also could go with a lower-priced outfield option, such as free agent Alejandro De Aza, who wouldn’t marginalize Lagares as much.

With the holidays approaching, the Mets already have filled several holes by acquiring infielders Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker and re-signing pitchers Jerry Blevins and Bartolo Colon. In addition to a lefty-hitting outfielder, they could add a righty-hitting outfielder who plays first base to replace the retired Michael Cuddyer as well as a right-handed reliever. They have made clear publicly that they view the return of stud outfielder Yoenis Cespedes a long shot.

By Ken Davidoff