Jerry Manuel and Frankie Rodriguez were both very upset after the Mets fell to the Braves 5-4 last night at Turner Field. First baseman Daniel Murphy made a costly error that allowed the winning run to score, this after a mental gaffe turned a sharp grounder down the line into a double.
With the Mets up 5-4 and closer Frankie Rodriguez on the mound, Garret Anderson hit a hard ground ball over the first-base bag, directly past Murphy, who was guarding the line. Murphy did not dive for the ball, which was within his reach. He believed the ball was foul, but the video replay showed otherwise. Anderson would later score the tying run.
“I don’t know how that ball got through,” Rodriguez said. “To me, on my side, it looked like it was a foul ball all the way. But regardless of whether it was a foul ball or not, that ball cannot go through. You’ve got to stop it some way or somehow. After that, everything pretty much fell apart.”
And fell apart it did, when Murphy committed a game-ending fielding error on Ryan Church’s grounder with men on first and second and two outs. It allowed the runner on second to come all the way around to score and win the game. It was Murphy’s tenth error since moving to first base from left field where he originally started the season.
“Inexcusable,” Murphy said. “I’ve got to make that play. It’s a play I make 100 times. I booted it tonight, and we lost the ballgame because of it.”
Murphy’s miscues put a damper on what might have been a good win for the Mets after they battled against a division rival. Instead, Murphy thrust himself back into the debate of whether he can realistically be the Mets first baseman moving forward.
“I don’t understand why he just didn’t block the ball and keep it in play,” Jerry Manuel said. “After he muffed the ball he seemed to panic.”
Coincidentally, while one Mets first baseman was scraping bottom last night, another Mets first baseman was being honored. Ike Davis has been named the Mets’ Sterling Minor-League Player of the Year, and according to Adam Rubin of the Daily News, Davis could unseat Daniel Murphy at first base sometime in 2010. He also reveals that Jerry Manuel plans to watch Ike Davis play in the Arizona Fall League, and wonders if Murphy is just a placeholder for Murphy.
Davis, 22, currently is the organization’s lone representative on Team USA in the World Cup in Europe. When Davis returns home to Phoenix, he is slated to play first base in the AFL, with a spring-training invite to big-league camp in February surely to follow. While the 6-5, 195-pound Davis may not be ready to succeed Murphy by next Opening Day, Murphy may be just a placeholder for Davis at first base. A slick, lefthanded fielder with a strong arm that allowed him to pitch while attending Arizona State, Davis combined to hit .298 with 20 homers and 71 RBI in 114 games between Class-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton this season.
Davis is currently playing right field for Team USA at the World Cup and hitting .417 with a homer and two RBI in three starts. He definitely seems to be on the fast track, and unless Murphy gets his act together real soon, we might be seeing Ike Davis sooner rather than later.
It certainly looks like the Mets have themselves a new Golden Boy, but unlike Wilmer Flores and Fernando Martinez before him, Davis is actually performing and excelling and impressing as he goes along. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Davis jumps ahead of Flores and F-Mart when Baseball America releases their 2010 prospect rankings.
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
Okay so we have 1st base settled.Murphy and Evans till Ike is ready.Now spend the money to get a Left fielder.One of these 4 will do.Bay-Holliday-Figgins or trade for Crawford.
I’d much rather have Delgado’s defense and bat, with F-Mart + Pagan in LF playing average defense, then a Murphy/Evans platoon at 1B w/ a big name LF who constricts the rest of our payroll.
We need 2 starting pitchers something along the lines of Zambrano/Lackey and Marquis/Pineiro. We won’t be able to pull that off while signing a big name LF, and still filling questions in the pen, at catcher, and at first base. Murphy cannot be a first base opton if he offers no defense and no power.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
MATT? PAGAN & F-MART? IS THIS AMATEUR HOUR. IT’S WELL ESTABLISHED THAT PAGAN LACKS THE EXPERIENCE DESPITE 4 YRS IN MAJORS DUE TO LOST D.L TIME EARLY IN HIS CAREER. F-MART CERTAINLY IS NO BETTER. I BELIEVE HE NEEDS AT LEAST 2 FULL YRS OF MINORS, EMPHASIS ON FULL. I DON’T EXPECT HIM TO BE PROPERLY DEVELOPED UNTIL AGE 25. I EXPECT A 120-130M PAYROLL FOR ‘10 SINCE ONLY 93M IS ALREADY COMMITTED THE 27-37M SHOULD BE INVESTED IN LACKEY OR MARQUIS AS #2SP (APPROX 15M)DELGADO >5M GUARANTEED. DECLINING PUTZ OPTION, RESIGNING HIM 2Y/8M INCL 1M BUYOUT IF TB DECLINES CRAWFORD OPTION AN EXCALATING 4Y/54M OFFER 12M,13M,14M,15M PER FOR ‘11,’12,’13,’14. THAT WOULD COME TO 36M OR A 129M PAYROLL OR A 14% DECREASE FROM ‘09. CATCHER IS SANTOS,THOLE. SAVE ANOTHR 3M BY PARTING WITH TATIS & CORA REPL WITH MURPH, A-HERN, BOTH AT MIN. & A LOT YOUNGER. A SECOND PITCHER IS A LUXURY, I BELIEVE A STRONG BACKEND 3-5 CAN BE COBBLED OUT OF PELFREY,MAINE,PEREZ,MITSCH,NEIVE,NEISE ASSUMING PARNELL’S BACK IN PEN. LACKEY LIKELY TOO DEMANDING; I PREFER MARQUIS AS AN EQUALLY VALUABLE ADDITION & MORE LIKELY TO SIGN 3/45 THEN LACKEY WHO WANTS JOHAN,CC MONEY.
It’s silly to think that Thole, residing at a more difficult position, is major league ready, but F-Mart is not.
Jason Marquis is far from 15 mil status; you lost all credibility right there.
I FULLY AGREE THOLE NEEDS MORE FERMENTATION IN MILB; BUT REDUCED PAYROLL NOT LIKELY TO STRETCH FOR BEST OPTIONS AVAIL FOR HOLES NEEDING COVERAGE. BEST CATCHING OPTION KNOWN TO BE AVAILABLE IS LIKELY BENGIE MOLINA WHO WOULDN’T COME CHEAP ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO ALSO UPGRADE #2 SP, 1B,LF.
MATT, REALISTICLY NONE OF THE HIGH PRICED TALENT IS TRULY WORTH WHAT THEY’RE GETTING; BUT REALISTICLY IT’S UNREALISTIC TO BELIEVE YOU AREN’T FORKING OVER AT LEAST A 50% BUMP TO 10M/YR F/A SP LIKE LACKEY & MARQUIS WHO ARE BOTH EARLY 30s & MAKING 10M PER NOW. WAS 37 YR OLD LOWE WORTH 4/60=15M PER? BOTH LACKEY & MARQUIS ARE BETTER SIGNINGS THAN LOWE! PEREZ WASN’T WORTH 12M; BUT HE MAY BE. ISN’T IT MARKET DEENDENT. I RARELY REMEMBER MOST TOP DOLLAR FEE AGENTS SETTING THE VALUE SIGNED FOR. MOSTLY IT’S THE MARKET. OR IN BORAS’ CASE THE AGENT. NEITHER LACKEY NOR MARQUIS ARE BORAS CLIENTS, SO MKT WILL BE PRICE SETTER. HOW MANY INTERESTED, HOW MANY AVAILABLE? ONE WILL LIKELY SET MKT VALUE FOR THE OTHER. LACKEY LIKELY RETAINED BY LAA & 15M PER SEEMS LIKELY WITH HIS CITING SANTANA,SABATHIA CONTRACTS AS HIS DESIRE.
Delgado is a weak defensive first baseman. He has to hit a ton to make up for his limited mobility and mediocre hands.
He has good receiving skills, but his mobility is definitely an issue, especially with a bum hip.
Trade Murphy in the offseason, please. Make a deal to get a real player to fill one of the holes with Murphy included. Resign Tatis and have him be the placeholder until Ike is ready for bigtime.
The season is lost I am frustrate, bitter and take only an itsty bitsy amount of pleasure from my misery as I write the following:
I TOLD YOU!
i am surprised how blunt Jerry was in his criticism of his 1st baseman. and I totally agree. it just got me off guard that both he and Frankie unabahably blamed murphy for the loss.
He deserved it and patience is wearing thin.
Daniel Murphy sucks. He’s a decent backup infielder at best, sort of like a Wigginton. He has no defensive position he can call home. He belongs in the AL. Now the Mets are ready to bury their Murphy hype with some Ike Davis hype. And this site isn’t helping matters by writing so glowingly of a guy that was labeled a bust last season and failed to hit one homerun all of last season. You also fail to mention that Binghamton is the easiest park to homer in throughout AA. Thats the same park that made Carlos Gomez, Mike Carp, Nick Evans, F-Mart, Wilmer Flores and Dan Murphy look like Albert Pujols when they were there. But prior to AA and after, all of those players were flops or flopped. It’s also where Thole suddenly blossomed and became the best thing since white bread. He will flop just like Murphy did. Anyone who thought Murphy and Evans were high .300 hitters need to have their heads examined.
Can you please give the Rookie Murphy a little leaway?The guys is playing in New York,a rookie learning his second position in 1 season.If there is anyone to blame its management for sending this Rookie out to the wolves.A well run organization wouldn’t have done this to one of there prospects.I am not saying he is without problems but give the guy a break.Even his hitting isnt meeting your expectations?But if you look at the big picture he is having a FINE season,getting loads of experience.Mr Davis who is everyone’s new hero,also has faults,and will need a learning curve.Remember he strikes out alot.So please have some patience with the players,it is the management that didn’t make a trade to help them out.
I’m not going to defend Murphy, but Steve makes an excellent point in that the Mets should shoulder most of the blame for throwing the kid into the fire like that. I have seen enough of Murphy to believe he can be a very good serviceable player, but he may need to spend some time in AAA to start next season.
The 33 doubles he has spell to me that he is a fine hitter. a work in progress.
The criticism of Murphy is largely unwarranted and is over the top.
A bad decision by Omar and Jerry had him start in left field, though he played less than a handful of games there in the minors. Despite his lack of experience in the outfield, he outperformed Milledge an early imposter who couldn’t go back on a hard hit fly, and who frequently missed the cutoff man.
Murphy at first base will outperform Delgado defensively. He generally moves much better and his career is ascending, not like Delgado, a big bucks guy who has already played his best baseball.
Most of you people just spew nonsense. We aren’t getting any more big ticket players. We have enough.
Here is a list of players that belong in Buffalo:
Pagan, Murphy, Sullivan, Reed, Thole, Niese.
Here is a list of the players that should be signed next season:
C Rod Barajas
1B Carlos Delgado – only on an incentive contract otherwise Nick Johnson
LF Bobby Abreu
Bench Aubrey Huff (1B, 3B, OF)
SP Randy Wolf
SP Vincente Padilla
RP Joe Beimel
These complimentary players along with our “core” should be more than enough to reach the postseason.
crazy none of those players to me spell World Series.They spell a bunch of over the hill past their prime players….Just like what the mets have…wow you really expect to win a world series with randy wolf and vincente padilla in your rotation?
I want some that koolaid you are drinking!
3 years 45 mil for Marquis? Horrible use of limited funds. Marquis is a 4 starter at best. He in no way gives you equal value to Lackey. He gives you equal value to Pelfrey and that is only if Pelfrey fails to improve. Don’t be over-excited by Marquis win total this year. Look at his career numbers:
94-81 4.45 era 5.22 k/9 3.45 bb/9, 1.41 whip, .287 baa
Remember for most of his career he has been a journeyman at the back end of teams rotations. Now you want to pay him like a top flight 2 starter or even ace type money? That is just asking for dissapointment.
Preach.
And i guess its all murphys fault that K-rod can no longer blow hitters away and is always working with runners on base. Regardless, K-rod job is to close the game, he didnt!!
Omar has a knack for acquiring relievers with declining rates and velocity.
Murphy is trash. Include him in a deal for Fielder, Prince Fielder, or my next door neighbor John Fielder…I don’t care who, just get rid of this dude.
And what’s up with these Mets mental cases that’s coming from the system. Pelfry is nuts and Murphy is a basket case, Pagan runs the bases like the village idiot…..geez!!!
Murphy is nothing more than an EMERGECY back-up first baseman or a low rate DH. Trust me, as soon as the Mets get rid of him, his career will be over or he’ll be a career minor leaguer. Just like those dudes we traded for Santana.
I stopped believing the Mets spin on their minor leaguers after seeing the great phenom, the next Roberto Clemente, the 5 tool player…Alex Ochoa.
Like Steve Somers once surmised: “The Mets said that Alex Ochoa is a 5 tool player…but they didn’t say they were garden tools”.
This season has proved that Omar does NOT sign the best available players as he states. It actually looks like he’s trying to sign evey guy that has looked at a baseball in the Dominican Republic. He has turned this organization into a national joke called Los Mets. It’s tragic…it’s just tragic.
Resigning Delgado is a must. LF should go to pagan, fmart, sullivan-type players. A barajas-type catcher would allow Thole AAA seasoning. Then we can focus on pitching, pitching, and pitching.
Resigning Putz would be ridiculous, it was an awful acquisition to begin with. Once again we need bullpen help and as always, sp help.
“wow you really expect to win a world series with randy wolf and vincente padilla in your rotation?”
The Dodgers do. Randy Wolf has been one of the best pitchers in the NL this year. He would be a solid lower cost starting pitcher acquisition.
I wanted Randy Wolf so badly last off season. His bullpen blew a lot of games for him that he left with a win, otherwise his record would be even better.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
JOE, I THINK THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH WOLF THAT ISN’T APPEARING ON THE BACK OR FRONT OF HIS CARD. QUALITY LHP USUALLY DON’T HAVE TROUBLE FINDING PERMANENT HOUSING, SINCE ‘06 HE’S BEEN WITH PHL,LAD,SD,HOU,LAD
ESP ‘YOUNG’ QUALITY LH SP.WITHOUT TONS OF D/L TIME. THAT’S TOO MUCH BAG PACKING, LET ALONE BAGGAGE FOR MY TASTE. RAISES MY ANTENNAE DOESN’T IT YOURS?
RC, FROM YR [PREVIOUS POSTINGS, I BELIEVE U ARE A BACK OF THE CARD STATS BELIEVER). IF I’M RIGHT, I MUST POINT U TO IGNORE HIS W-L,ERA,WHIP AND FOCUS ON HIS YRS PLAYED & TEAM AFFILIATIONS. A TRULY EFFECTIVE LHSP USUALLY DOES NOT HAVE SUCH DIFFICULTY IN FINDING PERMANENT HOUSEING WITHOUT SOME UNPUBLISHED ISSUES FOUND TO BE LESS ATTRACTIVE ONCE HE’S ON UR TEAM AND I DON’T MEAN SNORING TOO LOUDLY ON THE PLANE. TRUST ME, THERE’S SOMETHING UNTOWARD IN HIS MAKEUP, IT COULD BE ALCHOHOL ABUSE, SPOUSAL ABUSE OR ANY OTHER NON PUBLICIZED ITEMS. SUCH AS MEX’S BEING DEALT BY WHITEY DUE TO COCAINE ABUSE & ONGOING FED INVESTIGATION. A YOUNG, EFFECTIVE LHSP WITH MORE CLUBS THAN YRS HAS A CLOSET FULL OF ISSUES IN MY OPINION.
If the Mets go on the cheap i think Barajas Wolf,would be good pick-ups.Along with Abreu.But i still think Murphy is going to be a keeper.I believe if you look at his year end stats as a rookie,he will end up with 10-12 homers-63-68 rbis hit .260-265.Next year playing 1 position will help.That way they can have Ike Davis start in Rightfield for Buffalo and FMart in left for Buffalo.Tejada at Short and Thole at catcher while the Mets have Barajas and Santos catching for them.I also think they should take a shot at Harden-Bedard-Sheets.Then in spring training you have a battle for the 5 spots in the rotation between. Santana-Wolf-Pelfrey-Maine-Perez-Niese-Nieve-Harden or Bedard or Sheets.
Murphy is hitting real good right now. The onus is on Ike to show he can do better!