24
2011
Murphy and Tejada Up The Middle? Really?
An article by 
The more I think about the possibility of Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy as the likely Mets’ shortstop and second base combo in 2012, the more I want to cringe. This sounds like a disaster in the making… Does defense matter anymore?
My concern about this led me to do some quick digging at Baseball Reference:
- Since 2007, Ruben Tejada has started a total of 103 games at shortstop, 62 last season for the Mets and another 41 games in five minor league seasons. In those 103 games, he has committed a whopping 23 errors in the field.
- Daniel Murphy started a total of 19 games at second base for the Mets last season, and prior to that he has played second base 19 times in six minor leagues seasons. He has committed 7 errors in those combined 38 games.
That’s 30 errors in 122 games between the two.
Can you imagine how bad our infield defense will be next season?
I won’t even mention that David Wright has one of the worst fielding percentages for third basemen in MLB over the last three seasons. Oops, I just did.
I feel bad for all the Mets ground-ball pitchers next season. Hey Pelf, how’s that 6.25 ERA working out for you?
Anyway, pardon my sarcasm, it’s really borne out of my frustration with this team… But I do have a serious question for all of you to ponder…
If Citi Field is built for pitching, defense and speed, why are we about to part ways the fastest player in franchise history, go into another season with a rotation that boasts a combined 4.25 ERA, and field a defensive squad that features a catcher who can’t catch, a middle infield of Tejada and Murphy, and an outfield with Luca Duda in RF and Angel Pagan in CF?
Is this progress?
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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I think you’re being a tad unfair mostly to Tejada. He’s a young player, young players make mistakes.
Look at Elvis Andrus and his E totals. Now tell me you wouldn’t love him at SS for the Mets? Of course you would.
Part of why defense is so tough to judge statistically is you can only make an E on a ball you can get to. So just basing fielding ability on E totals actually penalizes a quicker and better fielder because a slower guy may not get to some of the balls hit in tough spots, thus they don’t get an error.
Making excuses for players based on age is really an acknowledgment that the player should be in the minor leagues.
Murphy is another matter. Based on his total life experience in the middle infield, he is a newbie. If he’s at 3B or 1B, he’s fine. Maybe now he’s just a placeholder for Havens or Valdespin.
evis andrus deserved to be in the minors??? nobody is making excuses about tejada, you just wanna complain about him, by now des, everyone in MMO know you DON’T LIKE TEJADA, but give credit when is due, i was hard on murphy and he proved me and a lot of people wrong, why don;t you do the same and we can move on?
“evis andrus deserved to be in the minors??”
No Alex, I wasn’t thinking of Elvis when I wrote it. But really, I never ‘hate’ a player. But I hold all of them accountable. Is there anything wrong with that?
des, i am fine with that, but you’re talking about a kid who’s 21 years of age, is not like david wright who’s been in the majors for 9 years or so already and still chokes in big spots. tejada has improved, and had not being for eamus and hu talking up a whole month of the mets season to fill sandy’s moneyball ego he probably would’ve been better. come on, you should know this. if he sucks this upcoming year then yea, go right ahead, but in the meantime at least with him give him the benefit of the doubt
Alex, nobody is saying Tejada sucks. Certainly not me. All players can be compared, and there is not, as is sometimes claimed, anyone immune to comparison.
Let me make some quick points:
This has been about Andrus and Tejada. Andrus played in the minors for 386 games when he was 16-19 yrs old. Tejada played in the minors for 453 games when he was 17-21. So Andrus was younger and moved through the Rangers minor league system unusually quickly. Tejada has moved through the Mets minor league system quickly but not as fast as Andrus. One point about Ruben that I haven’t seen mentioned is that Ruben has trouble in cold weather but improves a lot when it gets warmer. His experience early at Buffalo early last year is a good example.
In the majors last year, Ruben was ranked 92 out of 117 guys at SS with a .956 Fld% and a 4.22 Range Factor.
In the majors last year, Elvis was ranked 82 out of the same number of guys at SS with a .963 Fld% and a 4.44 Range Factor.
There is no doubt in my mind which player superior defensively right now. Offensively, including stolen bases, the disparity is greater.
Finally, you’ve misconstrued my views regarding Wright. I don’t go for phony labels such as ‘choke’ and the like. If we’re diligent, it’s all in the numbers and, as I’ve said, every player is accountable for performance and variations in performance under different circumstances. The numbers have to be ferreted out and that takes work.
des, i am not comparing anyone to anyone, but you talk about andrus as if he’s a worldbeater, in 1880 PA the man is hitting 267 and has only 11 hr’s to show for, ok you wanna go SB, ok, he’s imo more skilled than tejada and more fast, defensively andrus is a career 969 fielder and tejada is a 980. also, tejada in 540 at bats has 50 RBI’s. while andrus in a much better ballpark and team has only 130 rbi’s. stop it ok. andrus is not that much better, if you wanna say you like andrus be my guest, but don’t sh** on tejada to try to prove you’re right and compare to someone who imo is similar to tejada except faster…
Alex, i’ve given you the numbers and if you don’t want a comparison based on the numbers, don’t look. Just to take the ballpark out of the comparison, this points out more of the disparity:
Andrus — 1 SB every 4 games
Tejada — 1 SB every 40 games.
des, and??? what is your point??? michael bourn is better than josh hamilton because he steal more bases??? come on man, don’t fall into that trap.. that’s andrus game, speed, that’s not tejada’s… wake up man..
For as long as sandy alderson is in the front office, words like improving, winning and championships are of no use..
But I really like those words. lol
joe D, so do i, or at least put try to in front of those.. but no, no even a chance it happens. is a shame to tell you the truth..
It’s all part of the 50th Anniversary theme for next year…..field a team that closely resembles the ’62 Mets.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the New York Mets, they are not spending more than 50 grand per player next year.
Joe:
2012 is window dressing.
2013: 2B Reese Havens… SS Jordany Valdespin
Havens is going to be up this year, assuming his underlying injury (the rib tip) is in the past.
I honestly could see him winning the job out of ST, given the lack of competition.
I seem to keep hearing more and more of this doom and gloom outlook lately Mack.When it comes from you that’s not very comforting.Those who believe we need to spend spend spend and there’s no money problems in Met land are probably brushing your comments off like dandruff.If they only knew.Ahh they’d still blame Alderson anyway.
I don’t see anybody here saying spend, spend, & spend like there’s no money problems.
I haven’t seen one poster suggest that at all. I think if anyone suggested that we would know about it. I think everybody here by now knows the Mets have money problems.
What I DO see is people proposing deals and making suggestions for good signings within our financial constraints. And I’m one of them. Including last year’s terrible off season Alderson has not been spending whatever budget he has wisely. He’s been doing an awful job of it so far and if this was 20 years ago he’d be raked over the coals.
That’s the difference and it’s a BIG difference. I have not seen ANYBODY say spend spend spend and spend. But spending wisely? That’s what’s being suggested and to tell you the truth I haven’t seen that either so far.
Excellent response Bayonne, but one that will fall on deaf ears. These moneyballers see only in black and white. There’s only spend insanely or not at all to them. To spend within your allowed budget doesnt compute to them.
According to Baseball Reference Ruben Tejada has since 2007 played in 412 games at short and made 81 errors in those games.
Reyes and Tejada has almost the same Fld% in the minors and Tejada isn’t that far off in the majors either. Yes, I’d much much rather have Reyes at short, but Tejada at least isn’t a defensive disaster. Murph, well, that’s another story.
it does seem common for IFs in the minors to make more errors. Even IIRC Jeter made a bunch early on.
some combination of learning the position, poor fields, official scorers, etc. just seem to lead to more errors. And part of that is having those young legs to even get to balls to make an error on them!
I believe all signs point to Tejada becoming a better and better fielder. He has skills and smarts and these will improve with experience.
Come what may, I fully expect 2012 to be a year of big improvements for him defensively. Let’s see.
Any breakdown, Joe, of his last 50 games, errors by %, etc.?
I think those reports of Murphy being annointed at 2B for next year were just blowing smoke. Maybe to try and pump up his trade value?
At best, he will be given a shot in ST to win the job (along with a few others). But unless he really improved in the off season (and given he is rehabbing from knee surgery, not likely he had much time to work on it) I doubt he will be victorious.
My WAG? He will be a super sub type, getting PT at 2B, 1B, 3B and even some OF, to get him ABs. this assumes of course that Wright is not traded, opening up 3B for him.
the other option is he gets traded, eliminating the question about where to hide his glove!
Murphy’s Law states he can and will make errors regardless of where you play him. He’d drop his pretzels if he were selling them in the stands.
FP, you better be careful. Everytime I beat up on Murphy the great, I get lambasted. I think that Murphy is the baseball equivalant of Tim Tebow. He’s a very limited ball player that gets his uniform dirty and hits doubles and singles however; that comes with brick hands and no feet. Heck, some folks on this site have him half way to to the hall of fame as they watch him play through rose colored glasses ala the new Broncos running back, Tebow.
I’ve always said that Murphy is a danger to MLB once he steps foot outside of a batters box.I honestly don’t see him as an every day player despite how well he hits.He’s terrible defensively,it doesn’t matter where you play him.Some positions are worse than others more so than he plays any particular position better than another.He’s as bad a baserunner as I’ve ever seen and I’m not over stating.He has zero baseball IQ and no instincts.Once he strokes a line drive he’s relatively useless.He belongs in the AL.
Of all the things the Mets need worry about, the 2 things they do not need to worry about is Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada. Tejada is fine defensively, and will evolve into a gold glove SS. He has the range, arm, hands, just needs to know he has a job and some patience. Great Shortstops (not counting Rey Ordonez) make 20+ errors each year, the best because of their range, Ordonez few because, steady as he was, his range was small.
Everything else about the Mets is depressing, except Davis, Dickey, Niese and Tejada and perhaps Duda
I believe (posted at the time) that we could of had Kelly Johnson before being traded from the D backs to the Blue Jays, but we did nothing. He would have been a better than average 2nd baseman with some pop in his bat until the farm system developed. This team seems frozen in time. The Reyes situation is like the greedy family waiting for grandma to die to see who is going to get the money and in the meantime they sit on their butts and do nothing. Reyes is the Mets’ grandma if you get my drift. I think a lot of Mets fans , myself included are ok with the Mets without Reyes. He won’t get us to the playoffs so let’s use the money to achieve that goal down the road.
Where are Chin Lung Hu and Brad Emaus? We could really use them right now.
Actually a scary thought, imagine if Omar Minaya didn’t leave us Murphy or Tejada and we really had to rely on Alderson’s guys Who and E-Miss??? Thanks Omar. By the way an all homegrown infield Thole, Davis, Murphy, Tejada, Wright. Two more homegrown in OF. According to t agee we are going to win the world series now.
You mean Thank You to this guy?
“It had everything to do with baseball. Baseball is about winning and going to the postseason and for four straight years Omar Minaya has failed while being paid handsomely. He has made us an embarrassment!”
“Yeah I got what I wished for! Omar is out!!!”
If that’s the infield of the future we’re gonna need Branch Rickey to come back from the dead because 3 of those guys are bad defensive players.
All the negative on Murphy. He had to learn 1st base in the majors and he did very well (read Bill James Book 2012). He will work at defense until he gets better at 2nd base.He has the range and can become a good 2nd baseman. We don’t need to talk about his hitting as that talks about itself at .320.Don’t write him off,wait until you see how he does at 2nd base. He wasnt that bad there last year but didnt get enough playing time at 2nd base. I know Bayonne doesnt like him and others tear him apart.His saves at 1st base were in the top ten and he made the top ten in the Bible list at first base.
He’s had two season ending injuries playing at 2nd base two years in a row, you really want to try that again? All you’re going to do by that is make your defense worse, and put Murphy at risk of injury.
Murphy was hurt in 2010 on a dirty slide. In 2011 it was a late slide and although not dirty it was a steal at 2nd going in feet first. Murphy position was not the best for the slide. But he had been playing 1st base and had not played 2nd since Davis was injured. Had he been playing the whole season I am sure it would not have happened. Murphy is not afraid to play 2nd base and will work at positioning in January and february before ST. If he gets hurt again there is always Turner, Havens and Valspane to take over. But if he does the right things he will be at 2nd for the season.
Jerry M,
What would you rather happen? Murphy become the full time second baseman and the Mets in last place? Or Murphy traded and the Mets in 1st?
Bayonne, lets see who is right this season. If Murphy plays 2nd base and is in the Lineup.Pagan,Murphy,Wright,Davis,Bay,Duda,Tejada,Thole, they have a good offense and will succeed. If pitching with new bullpen can come through we will get to the playoffs with the new two team playoff. See you in 2012
I’m not interested in “who’s right” i’m interested in what it takes to WIN.
You evaded my question but that’s okay i won’t press you.
Murphy cannot play 2B, should not be near 2B ever again…….. but I can live with him at 3B so don’t go saying I hate Murphy okay?
The only time I want to see Murphy at 2B is when he hits a double
Most player evaluation I recall reading about Tejada indicated he will be a leaguse average defender and likely improve from there. Not Reyes but not a weakness. Murphy is a different story, but I see teams trade hitting for fielding all the time. This is something to moan about but the bigger issue will be lack of quality pitching.
What happened to Turner? I sincerley doubt Reyes is going anywhere, but let’s say he does. You play Tejada and Turner up the middle. Use Murph to subsitute for Wright 2 days a week, and for Ike two days a week.
Generally, you don’t sit a lefty for a lefty. Also, Murph and Ike both hit lefties better than most LH batters. In fact, Ike hits LH starters for power better than RH starters (limited sample sizes). And Murphy does his best hitting vs LH starters (again, sample sizes)
Turner simply isn’t an everyday player. Great guy off the bench and a super sub type of guy, but he’s not Plan A.
errors are not really a relevant defensive statistic.