When Castillo came back, Castillo rode the bench while Tejada was getting playing time. Castillo actually mentored Tejada at his own expense.

Reyes, Castillo are both directly responsible for Tejada’s rapid rise….he is still one of the youngest SS in the majors and he hit almost .300….

IMO though, a faster SS with more range would allow Tejada to move to 2B, where I feel he would be one of the better 2B in the league.

Murphy has a lack of range that translates poorly to 2B and a weak arm that translates poorly to 3B…really 1B is his best position…but we can hide him at 3B if we get a faster SS than Tejada who can allow the 3B to play closer to the line….which also affects where the LF has to play to cover line-drives and ground balls down the line…

this is the domino effect that a SS has on the infield and outfield defense…this is why i advocated keeping Reyes….having Reyes allows Tejada to move to 2B and Wright to cheat towards the line…

not surprisingly, Wright had a career low in Total Chances ( compared to his other full seasons )

People say that Wright suffered from a lack of support in the lineup…but its really a lack of support from SS that affects his ability to get to doubles and cheat towards the line and towards bunts…Tejada is able to make up for his lack of speed via prep. He cheats by shading towards the area he feels the ball will be hit. Castillo taught him to shade according to pitcher, pitch type, pitch selection, batter…Castillo learned this to accommodate HIS lack of range that came as he got older…Cal Ripken also did this in Baltimore. He was 6’5 225 and was not the quickest of SS…but made up for it via supreme prep. This is how Tejada gets over…if he applies this principle at 2B, his range and arm are good enough to place him in the upper tier of 2B from a defensive perspective and his .290 + bat are enough to put him in the upper tier from an offensive perspective.

He is a line drive hitter with some power (about 40 doubles, right?). What the Mets need is more hitters like Murph. His play at second is passable.

Let’s move on to the real problems.

Wasn’t at all trying to compare the two – just to point out what I sense is a trend – those who tend not to like Murphy overlook Tejada’s weak points and those who tend to not like Tejada (or compare him to Reyes) seem to overlook Murphy. Though both were signed by Omar, Sandy gave Tejada his break while Murphy is viewed more as a holdover from the prior GM

Tried thinking of some weak points about Ruben only for reference purposes. Not to knock him or Daniel. Both are the least of our problems.

If he sucks he’s a keeper because he makes less than 3 Mil per year!

If your good then your not worth playing but worth trading for a gaggle of kids who might never make it to the MLB.

If your bad your not worth trading so might as well hold onto again because they are cheap.

Murphy is a gap doubles hitter…Tejada is a high BA slap singles guy.
If he had some speed on the basepaths that might be worth something.
And who is to say he doesn’t? They should do for Tejada what they did for Reyes and bring in Henderson to coach him on the art of stealing bases.

You don’t need to be the fastest runner to steal bases provided you learn how to read pitchers and get the jump required to get the base.

As for range Tejada’s range is good to his left (our right) but not to his right, thats the only knock you can give on him and truth is more likely that he is shading towards second to help Murphy which is why he isn’t getting to those plays to the right.

Muprhy has increased his range by playing deeper and it will cost him some DPs on slow grounders.
Considering his bad knee situation (amazing he had any range at all!) as the knees get stronger and he learns the position better he will be able to play a little more shallow and charge those slow rollers to make those plays.

But his BAT and all those doubles is why people don’t complain about the defense as much as they might.

Neither is a steller fielder – adequate, yes, but steller, no. Tejada has limited range at shortstop yet because Ruben was Sandy’s choice for shortstop his limited range and lack of speed is acceptable while the same blast Murphy for his limited range and lack of power. Yet, those who are Murphy supporters seem to point out how much better we would have been with Reyes instead of Tejada.

Murph will be 28 next season and will be entering his prime. What he brings onto the field with his hustle and desire will only aid him. Judge him for what he is, not what he isn’t – the same manner in which we should judge Tejada for not being Jose.