28
2012
Daniel Murphy Finds HR Stroke
An article by 
MURPHY: Homers twice.
Slides often end this way, with the Mets taking out their frustration of the last four days with a 17-1 mauling of the Cubs this afternoon. Daniel Murphy, who hadn’t homered since last July, went over the ivy twice to back the solid pitching of Jon Niese.
You can’t call this a turnaround game unless they reel off a few more, but it was a good start heading into Los Angeles. At one point, the Dodgers were running away with the NL West, but after losing eight of their last ten games, including being swept by the rival Giants, Los Angeles finds itself tied for first with San Francisco.
Chris Young goes against former Met Chris Capuano (who should have been re-signed) tonight, but with R.A. Dickey and Johan Santanta going the next two nights, the Mets will have the pitching advantage. With Clayton Kershaw starting Sunday night, LA would get that pitching advantage thereby making the series a toss up. If the Mets come home from LA with a split, who wouldn’t take that consider how this trip started?
As bad as the Mets played the first two games, they were that good today. Pitching and power; the Mets had it all together this afternoon. Will they keep it up over the weekend? It’s possible, but they showed signs of life and answered being pushed around by pushing back.
With how the Mets played the first three months of the season, it was what we’ve come to expect.
About the Author: John Delcos
I am an active member of the BBWAA and have covered Major League Baseball in several capacities for over 20 years, including ten in New York working the Mets' and Yankees' beat. I covered the Baltimore Orioles for eight years and the Cleveland Indians before that. I currently serve as an editor and senior staff writer for Mets Merized Online. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos.
19 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
Recent Comments
- Helen: on Juan Lagares Belts First MLB Homer In Mets 4-3 Comeback Win: Yeah. Collins uses Scott Rice every day...
- Andy C.: on Is Keith Hernandez Slipping?: The comments on here should receive the...
- Metsie: on Mets vs Cubs: Davis Not In Lineup As Gee Looks For A Win In Rubber Match: You sure he isn't making out the...
- ill_egl: on Juan Lagares Belts First MLB Homer In Mets 4-3 Comeback Win: Collins has got to stop overusing Rice....
- tlagee: on Juan Lagares Belts First MLB Homer In Mets 4-3 Comeback Win: '“Everything comes to a head at some...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5361 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Now can we trade him? He’s still an awful fit on this team.
Agreed. Trade him while he he has some value. Maybe to a team that has no idea that they’d be getting a slow, no defense skills, “punch and judy” hitter. Wow…he hit a couple of dingers in homer happy Chicago! Get the Cooperstown plaque ready.
He has no position and that doesn’t work in the NL. Haven’t we seen already how much this team needs to improve defensively? It’s time to start shipping guys like Murphy out of Flushing. Duda is another big concern as well. I don’t understand why this front office undervalues defense which is as big a part of the game as pitching and offense.
He’ll be definite trade bait. I see him in Oakland as part of the deal to get Balfour. Oakland needs a 3rd baseman and a hitter in the worst way. Even though he went yard twice yesterday, I still don’t like the one-handed follow through. Go back to using two hands, Murph!
You think 2 wind blown HR’s just increased his trade value? Seriously? Where are you trading him to and who are we getting back. Murphy isn’t getting much in return unless he’s raking like he did before he went down last year.
I agree with you. Even at his best the Mets aren’t getting anything of value for this stiff. This is your typical Met issue…a guy that comes through the system that can hit, but has no defensive position. Met fans love him simply because he came from the system and hustles overlooking his obvious warts. In this case, he is also slow footed, lacks base running instincts, and has no power. Hustle may win you a game or two a season, but the ball will always find you on defense!
Can’t argue with that. Murphy is a lefty bat off the bench at best because of everything you just mentioned. He doesn’t even profile as a good DH due to lack of power. His work ethic and hustle though would get any fan base to love a guy like Murphy not just Met fans and he also got some huge hits when he was called up in 2008 and a lot of big clutch hits last year. Fans love guys who break their ass however limited they are over star players that lollygag it.
That’s why Murphy is a little overrated by Met fans.
Those two homers will mean more playing time which will mean more errors which will mean more losses. Put it in the books.
It’s one game, In Wrigley with the wind blowing out….
I wouldn’t read too much into it just yet.
As for the errors he has one more error than Uggla and is hitting way better than him…
I fail to see why you guys make him out to be an error machine….Sure he is #3 in the league and for all intents and purposes being only 1 error above a guy who has played the positions for years in Murphy’s first full year there is actually pretty damn good if you ask me!
It’s not just the errors Metsie it’s the failure to turn DP’s that don’t show up in the boxscore or stat sheet and his horrible range where they have to play him 15 feet into RF to make up for it.
and how much of his DP numbers have something to do with a conga line of SSs playing next to him?
He seems to have turned some pretty good DPs lately. Has made some pretty nice plays too!
He’s a rookie for all intents and purposes as far as 2B is concerned and Range may be limiting but not many other 2Bs hit as well as he does! Don’t forget he is coming off his second Knee Surgery and still not going to be 100% in less than a year.
I know you guys are all in love with Valdespin but take a look at his BA it’s .222 with a .246 OBP but he manged to hit 2 HRs in important games which makes you remember the good plays he has made and overlook all the other crappy ABs he has had!
Murphy is hitting .274 was one of the main RBI guys when Ike and Duda were struggling.
You guys have to stop looking at this rtoster as if it is some sort of Yahoo league where you go and put the guy who is on a hot streak into your lineup because changing players in Fantasy league doesn’t affect their numbers due to rust!
Murphy is doing a fine job he ran into a little slump and got a bit tired after playing more games than anyone else on the team including Wright and now that Tejada is back doesn’t have to cover as much ground as he had to for two months while we started our 5th choice at SS.
People didn’t think Ray Knight was all that important of a piece to the 86ers too and they never won another WS after dumping him for not being strawberry!
Give Murphy this season or until valdespin can show he can hit for high average PLUS power. He’s a nice kid to have but he isn’t ready yet.
As much as Murph is a hacker Valde is 10 times more of a hacker and will get exposed if he played everyday.
Wow. What negetive comments about Murphy. Where are those that realize that Murphy has been a big part of the wins this year.Most Doubles after Wright,most hits after Wright. All they want to do is trade him. If he hits .312 or better in the 2nd half will you still want him traded?
Not related to Murphy, but can you really blame Alderson and company for not wanting to give two years to a guy who pitched like a fifth starter (albeit a good one) last year when that would only clog up a rotation spot that could at some point be given to a young arm like Harvey or Wheeler? It’s easy to say they should’ve resigned him now that he’s got a sub 3 ERA, but at the time it made perfect sense, and if you ask me it still does.
It comes down to this….
If your a GM and think a guy is worth taking a risk on for a year because he is so cheap, and trying to re-establish himself as an MLB pitcher….
Doesn’t it also make sense to at least get an option or second year at those prices so if he manages to reclaim himself and do well you get something more for your investment and willingness to take a risk?
Capuano was cheap because he was a good pitcher who got hurt and could not get what his past performance said he should be worth due to the risk. He got less than half of what a pitcher with his numbers would get (if even that much) so why not double down at the basement prices, If you win you got a hell of a trade you can make or a pitcher you can use…If you lose you basically lost nothing more than what you would have paid him if he was not injured and not reclaiming his career.
But to pay a guy for a year so that he can reclaim his career and after him doing so you get little to nothing back, what did you get back for taking that risk?
If the guy is cheap then it makes a lot more sense to get more years at that price. If the player says no then let him go find someone else that has the ability to let him get his life back.
Players are like stocks. You want to buy when they are the cheapest and hold onto them long enough to get more back than you put into them.
I don’t know that we got that with Capuano, and if we had a two year deal at last year’s prices or at least an option to use then we would have gotten something for Capuano in trade this year or maybe could have saved 5 Mil on Pelfrey’s Arbitration because we had enough starters to let him go if we wanted to!
That’s actually a good point. He could’ve given him an option year so if he does reclaim his career you have him for another year at the very least, Unless he was unwilling to sign a deal with an option but that would’ve made sense to attach an option year if it was do-able.
We were dealing from strength…He had no offers which is why he took our lowball pay.
I’m sure Cap preferred a one year at those prices…too bad for him I would say!
Both him and Young wanted 4 mil per…I think they got less than 3 Mil combined!
Thats almost a 4:1 savings. So you give the guy a two year at say 3 mil, You pay a little more per year but still get a 2.5 Mil discount and if it works you got a cheap trade chip if it doesn’t all you wasted was an extra 1.5 Mil!
Peanuts!
Make it an option, Make it a second year with incentives? Make it a vesting option based on appearances…
But buying a guy for a year is tantamount to second guessing yourself!
I THINK I like the guy but not enough to sign him for two?
If your that unsure then you shouldn’t sign him for one. If you think it’s worth the risk at less than 1.5 mil for one then it’s worth the risk for 2 at 3 Mil! Cause your still getting a 1 mil discount on what he would get paid if not for the injury risks.
Why are you even talking about clogging up a spot for 2 minor league pitchers that are not here yet? This is the 2012 season and you want to win NOW.
I’m not talking about whether i would have signed Cap or not, I’m just bewildered at people worrying about 2 pitchers who are not going to have an impact on this season at the expense of signing a guy who can have an impact on this season. It’s unbelievable.
Nothing is guaranteed and even when/if Wheeler and Harvey get here the Mets can still lose big games that cost them a chance at getting into the post season even with those 2 pitchers? You think that can’t happen just because you want to “wait for the future”
WIN NOW for God’s sake!!! Nothing is gonna happen to effect the timetable of those pitchers by trying to win NOW.
You know what you guys should start doing regarding Murphy?
Start comparing him to our 3rd base coach.
Cause he is way more like Teufel than anyone else….
Except he has a better average!
And let it be stated that Wally didn’t have all that great a range either…
But he did have the BA with lack of power…
That is not a bad comparison at all. Probably only difference is Murph couldn’t attempt the Teufel Shuffle without tripping over himself.