13
2013
Is Daniel Murphy A Top 10 Second Baseman?
An article by 
Nobody will ever mistake Daniel Murphy for Dustin Pedroia or Ian Kinsler at second base. But last night, Murphy was good enough to be on MLB Network’s “Top 10 Right Now: Second Basemen”.
Murphy held up the rear with the No. 10 spot and of course Robinson Cano was the top selection.
Based on their own statistical analysis Murphy is that good, at least from the offensive side of his game. But if you’re going to do a Top 10 by position, shouldn’t defense be heavily weighed as well?
Last season, Murphy was charged with 15 errors in 138 games at second and ranked 20th out of 22 qualified second baseman in fielding percentage (.974 for 2012).
However, what the fielding percentage and errors charged doesn’t tell you, is how many grounders went past Murphy for a base hit due mostly to his very limited range.
Make no mistake that Murphy has made great strides defensively at second base since we first saw him butcher the position (and his knees) in 2011. But he still is below average even though he doesn’t exactly kill the team by trotting him out there.
In fairness, Murphy did seem to improve significantly by last season’s end, but his poor range remained the same. That said, he ranked No. 91 in Defensive WAR among all second baseman in 2012, so obviously he still has a long way to go.
For the record, MLB Network determined their ranking based on a consensus of five different analysts. You should know that former second baseman Harold Reynolds and Sabermetric guru Bill James did not have Murphy in their top ten. (Neither would I)
“Take a look at the best batting averages over the last three years at this position, only Robbie Cano is higher than Murphy’s .302,” MLB Network’s Brian Kenny says of Murphy.
“OPS+ over the last two seasons, now that takes into account park effects, and Murphy is there behind Cano, Pedroia, Kendrick and that’s it.”
Last season, Murphy batted .291/.332/.903 with 40 doubles, six home runs and 65 RBI in 612 plate appearances.
Offense only? Murphy is certainly a Top 10 second baseman. But if you go by complete players and consider defense at the position, he ranks closer to 17-20 in my estimation.
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.
58 Comments + Add Comment
NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
Recent Comments
- DrDooby: on Last Night We Saw A Big Chunk Of “The Plan”: It doesn´t really matter how Wheeler does...
- BadBadLeroyBrown: on Atlanta Braves Broadcaster Shows Little Class During Matt Harvey At Bat: I think youre being way TOO sensitive...
- Ball_Four: on Atlanta Braves Broadcaster Shows Little Class During Matt Harvey At Bat: What would you expect from the fans...
- Jason bay: on Atlanta Braves Broadcaster Shows Little Class During Matt Harvey At Bat: Braves announcers were very complimentary of Harvery...
- Ball_Four: on Wilmer Flores: It’s Time For Another MLB Debut: I think Collins wants to move away...
Latest From Mets Minors
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1333 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Quickly, trade him now before MLB Network realizes their mistake!
(On a serious note, you summed it up well, Joe. He’s definitely in the top 10 offensively…but defensively, eh.)
Problem is that many Met fans have been conditioned to view mediocrity as excellence. So they’ll view Murphy even as a top five.
The argument was raging on another blog in support of Murphy as top ten at 2B in all of baseball. I even got some thumbs down and my Mets fandom question for suggesting that Murphy is not even close to being top ten. This isn’t even an argument if you rightfully include defense as part of what makes up a 2B. Murphy is a cheap piece, a decent bat, and best suited as a utility fill-in. Most Mets fans have known that for a while now. His defense leaves much to be desired, so if you are properly ranking top 2B in baseball, he should firmly rest outside the top 15.
OFFENSIVELY he probably is one of the top ten second baseman in the game. It’s not exactly a position that is known for offensive juggernauts. Unfortunately there is no way to statistically analyze defense so it gets ignored by the people who think they understand the game by analyzing stats. It gets ignored because the people who rely on stats alone have no clue how it impacts the game because it can’t fit neatly into a mathematical equation.
I agree with Joe that Murphy is a work in progress. Lets look at it this way. Daniel Murphy played his first full year at 2nd base in 2012. The others are all have either played all their careers at 2nd or many years there. Its a great feat for him even to be mentioned as in the top ten this early.He will continue to improve & maybe this year will actually still be in the top ten. Fans don’t give him credit for his hard work.Many said few make the transition from a corner player to 2nd base.He has done it. Give him a chance to succeed & you will be happy with him at 2nd base..
I dug through the numbers, because I really thought this was a joke, and you know what, I think that is a fair assessment to put him at the 10-12 range for 2nd basemen. The handfull of guys not named Cano that have power like Uggla and Weeks are dreadful defensively. If you take power out of the equation Murphy has some solid numbers and some SB ta-boot.
If he was on a different team that wasn’t so weak up the middle and RF, he would be a great fit. He is definitely getting penalized (me included) for being on such a horrible assembled defensive lineup. Fix right and center and he would the right piece to the puzzle.
Murph can hit, no doubt. It’s always been a question of whether he can be passable at 2B and if last year is any indication the answer is yes. Offensively I think he’s also been confounded by all the position shifts, if he’s settled in at 2B and can focus back on his hitting he may be due for a big season.
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2012/05/can-we-stop-worrying-about-murphy-at-2b-now.html
“Add to that the fact that Murphy’s aggressive and passionate play has become infectious and that he’s become one of the more vocal leaders in the clubhouse.”
Joe, remember this goodie I asked back in May about Murph? One of the things they judge a player on when it comes to this list was leadership, and the quote above came to mind.
You did give him credit back then during the season about his footwork and evolving into a decent 2nd baseman. Maybe defensively, he’ll surprise us again. You talk about his poor range, but like Jerry said, this was his 1st full pro season at 2nd with TWO surgically repaired knees. If he fully has his leg strength back since going under the knife twice, it can happen.
Let’s look at Darwin Barney – Slick fielding second baseman that won the gold glove in 2012. He had a .254 avg versus Murph’s .291 avg. Barney had 27 fewer hits than Murphy on the year and only three fewer walks. So the offensive difference between Barney and Murphy works out to be about one hit per week. Is the added advantage of having that one hit per week more better than having Barney’s glove on the field? One more hit per week and Barney may be one of the best second baseman in the game. Just one hit per week would make the people who look at these stats believers – but by looking strictly at offensive stats you would say Barney doesn’t rank that high.
One hit per week sounds insignificant, and it really is when you think about it, but it is the difference between an average career and a good career. It’s one bloop over the infielder’s head per week that statistically separates the good players from the average ones.
Its not just how many hits, but what kind. Murphy had a SLG of .403 to Barney’s .354.
and this was considered a down year offensively for Murphy.
Agree – it’s also about meaningful hits
Agreed, slugging percentage is important, but if all of Barney’s additional hits were singles, his slugging percentage would be .4032 to Murphy’s .4028.
Barney (AB/TB) 194/548 = .354 but if you add those 27 hits (basically 1 hit per month) it would be 221/548 = .4032
So in the end would you rather have:
a) Murphy’s glove + 1 extra single per week
b) Barney’s glove without an extra single per week
Murphy had more RBI but this is as much of a product of where they bat in the batting order and the fact that Mets scored more runs than the Cubs.
I really like Murphy and don’t think it is a priority to get rid of him, but I’d have to think he’d be more valuable to another team where he could play more 1st or third… or DH.
It could happen, Hitman. I hope it does. And yes, his leadership is without question. Now that he’s arbitration eligible we could see a power spike as that sometimes tends to have players dial it up a notch in that department because homers pay more than doubles.
At best, I see Murph at full strength hitting .300 with 18-20 HRs and 40 doubles. All he needs is that leg drive back.
how did mets rank in double plays, foot work please the guy has no posistion, hes stunk defensively everywere if you cant catch a pop fly ball how can you play second what is this little league, remember were playing major league teams that want to win, that swing were did he get that from. did he go with dave to hojo 6 homers is pathetic, get a real shortstop and put ruben tejada were he belongs and murphy were he belongs on the bench.
Even if this ranking is somewhat invalid since it leaves out advanced fielding stats, It’s still a great step forward for Murphy. I’m sure his agent is happy (more ammo during arbitration).
I expect Murphy will improve over the next two years in his UZR type stats, as long as he’s left at second base and not moved all around the field. 2012 was his first year playing second for a full year, so you have to give him some slack right now.
Hey Metro,
Did you purposely put your link to be to a comment on a thread, or is it an accident? I’m just curious, because I saw it a few days ago and wondered why it was so.
LOL, yes and no. I mean I purposely chose a link to a thread just so that my name shows up in blue because it’s easier to see on a page!
… But I chose the thread URL totally at random. I’ll use the site’s homepage instead now. I didn’t realize people actually click on the names. As I said, I just use a link to make the name easier to read on the page.
Trust me, I get that. For some reasons, our eyes just wander to the blue names quicker than the others, right?
But yeah, I tend to scroll over the links because sometimes others bloggers will comment here and it’ll be links to their blogs or so, and I like to scope out what else is out there. But when your link led to a comment on a thread, I was confused as hell.
Yup, it’s so much easier to read. I’m glad you pointed it out, though. Because I’d rather it linked to a more generic site page. So thanks.
Hahahaha…Hilarious…Its bad when your 2B is a terrible defender and he is the LEAST of your problems…lol…Outfield help anyone?
I agree, he is the least of our problems. I would even hesitate to call him a problem at all. If they didn’t have that show last night, I probably don’t even mention this. lol
when the guy ranked dead last in defense statistically for 2B is not even a concern on your club…you have ALOT of concerns !!!
when Sandy said the only issue he had with Murphy was the lack of power…I knew he wasnt really watching those games…
a 2B with poor range affects positioning for 1B as he has to move away from the line to compensate…
this affects not only defensive positioning but pitch location.
A strong middle-infield defense is key to any championship team.
in terms of infield defense, we should be aiming at replicating what works
aka the 99 Met infield
4 Gold Glove caliber infielders at the same damn time
I still say not being aggressive with John Olerud and settling for the 2nd best option ( the lovable huggable todd zeile ) cost us in 2000
I’m not going to disagree with any of that. I’m a big defense guy, especially up the middle C, 2B, SS, CF. The thing is you and I both know this isn’t a championship club. Maybe in 3-5 years something better comes along at second base and the team will be at a point to start adding missing pieces to. At least that’s the hope,
the thing that scares me…
is that Sandy himself doesnt make up the middle defense any kind of priority
we had Jordany Valdespin, Josh Thole and Daniel Murphy playing 3 out of the 4 up-the-middle positions in the same game.
and instead of getting a cheap veteran to mentor thole, he sticks with mike nikeaus
that shows a complete lack of understanding or he really doesnt give a sh*t
He said it two years ago so I might be butchering the exact quote, but I’m pretty certain he said, “I’m not as concerned about Murphy’s defense. I view second base as an offensive position”. About two months later I was able to ask Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg a few questions, and I told him what Alderson said.
Sandberg replied, “Did he really say that? That’s kind of insulting to me because while many think of me as an offensive minded second baseman, it was my defense I took the most pride in. I would never minimize defense up the middle, but times are changing. The game is changing, but I don’t have to like it. As long as I’m charged with managing these kids, they will go to the majors knowing just how important defense is in baseball.”
If I remember correctly SA had this to say when discussing the team coming into the 2012 season: (paraphrasing): ‘I think the offense will be fine. I just hope we’re not sacrificing defense for that offense with a couple positions.’
He didn’t mention names but I think it was well assumed he was referring to Murphy and Duda.
“I just hope we’re not sacrificing defense”
then proceeds to put the slowest outfielder in the deepest part of the park….refuses to sign even a cheap catcher with some experience to mentor thole and the relievers…
we end up with the 2nd worst defense in all of baseball ( in a year where we got above average defense from 3B )
yup
Sandy is the man !
Ryno to me at 2B was what Ripken was at SS
both converted 3B, who redefined both positions from an offensive standpoint.
Ryno was the standard, until Roberto Alomar came and took it up another notch from a defensive standpoint
Dan Uggla in the 80′s would never be allowed to go near the middle-infield unless he was a baserunner
Again it all goes down to andy’s other famous quote….”Numbers don’t lie…I trust the MATH”
Well the problem with defense is even the ones who trust math DO NOT TRUST THE MATH!
Therefore they ignore it….
Saberattlers will very quickly admit the defensive metrics they have been able to come up with don’t really work and can’t be trusted. It was mentioned quite a few times on that top 10 show!
They think OBP works for Offense but they have yet to find the OBP of defense.
All because they can NOT come up with the VARIABLE for RANGE and PLAYABLE.
Those don’t show up in the boxscore and since many of these MATH GURUS rarely see the game just plug in numbers they have yet to figure out HOW to create those very important variables.
Perhaps a method of measuring the distance between widest plays made (L-R & S-D) they could come up with a range metric and from that determine how many plays the player could seemingly get to and compare to how many he actually made in that range. That would give you a OPO (Outs per opportunity) that could then be Weighted or amplified by the range variable.
An OPO of .990 times Range would give you a decent defensive metric for an OF. IF would require a bit more as the DP and Bunts would have to be taken into account I suppose.
But none of the Math Guru’s are doing that because it would require going and looking at every play every player made to come up with the variables and that type of work just isn’t something they are truly willing to do even if you pay them!
Not even sure you could do it quick enough to act on it within a years time!
Thats because most of the folks who use Sabers and Stats to form an opinion have YET to get the defensive metrics right! They know they are not working (the ones they have) and thats mostly because the DEFENSIVE version of Bill James hasn’t figured out how defense figures into his 27 outs in a game (which isn’t true if you count extra innings truth be told)
OBP was what came out of the Offensive side…They have yet to find the equivilent regarding defense and WHY?….
Because STATS can’t really tell you what happened, they didn’t keep hit charts and hit locations 30-40 years ago to decide if a player could get to or not any particular play he made in the field.
You had to actually SEE the game to know that guy went a long way to make a play as the scorecard merely recorded it as an out nothing more nothing less.
Lol….I figured you wouldnt but Im sure you and the others get tired of writing about the Outfield or lack thereof
Some of us cant even pull ourselves to criticizing our other weak points due to the black hole in the OF. Dan Warthen, Hudgens, and the bullpen coach are loving life now lol Mets fans were killing them throughout the season calling for them to be fired now its all about the OF….
Still cant figure out why some Mets fans always call for our bullpen coaches head. Never heard any other team even mention their BP coach lol
Cleveland Indians just released Zack Wheeler’s former SF minor league teammate 25yr old Outfielder Thomas Neal. Actually he was designated for assignment to clear room on the 40man for “Nick the D**K Swisher” and today he cleared waivers so he is now eligible for free agency. I say the Mets should definitely pursue him on a minor league deal with a spring training invite. Im sure he’d be more than interested seeing that we have No Outfield.
Thomas Neal OF
Age: 25
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 220 LBS
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
He batted .314/.400/.467 with the Indians’ Double-A affiliate this past season
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=neal–001tho#standard_batting::none
Here’s a little Scouting report on him
http://kingsofkauffman.com/2013/01/12/market-fresh-thomas-neal/
Ooops! posted this under the wrong article but it still applies..lol
Enjoy your trip to the Drunk Tank. You know how much we frown upon off topic links here. lol
LoL!
In a tight spot with the game on the line, there is no other batter on this roster I want at the plate than Daniel Murphy
the man has ice in his veins
on defense…unfortunately he also has ice in his shoes
I hope I inspired this post…..LOL
Here is the thing with Murphy and that list….YES it is a bit of a stretch to say Murphy is a top 10 2B in the league….
And I should correct something here…MLB didn’t use analysts to make this list they used some statistical thing they called the shredder which lets be clear is only going to be as good as the variables they plugged in.
That said consider this in defense of Murphy
This was his first FULL year playing 2B and at least as far as the shredder was concerned jumped past 20-22 other 2Bs in the league. That probably says more about the state of 2B in the league than it does about Murphy but if a Rookie did it he would require Harvey and Wheeler as a start to trade for him around these parts!
Second was the fact that Murphy was coming off his second consecutive Knee operation. Even a guy with GOOD range would have some issues covering ground in the year he came back from that type of injury and surgery. And those knees had an affect on more than just his range as we move onto…
POWER – Well Power is also generated in your legs.Knee Surgery tends to make you try and not use your legs as much to reduce the strain that could reinjure you. Especially where some type of xCL is concerned. If you can’t get the leg drive your pretty much swinging with your arms and unless you a big muscle bound guy thats not enough or conducive to hitting the ball over the fense, especially in a home field like Citifield.
Errors – Yep he made a few. So too would any rookie just coming up or player who played 2B for the first time.
So perhaps we should cut the guy just a little slack and see what he does now that he is a year removed from surgery, has had a season to build up leg strength and get his legs under him (as the late season improvement suggests started to happen) and see what he can do this season to improve on whatever it is that got him in the top 10 of the shredder list and kept him from getting higher on it.
In the end the story of that top 10 show was how there really is one GREAT 2B Cano followed by a bunch of above average or USED TO BE great who declined and the league is just hurting for decent 2Bs.
And I would wait to see what Murphy does in the next two years before I will say he’s not really suited to be a 2B….
To quote shakespear….
2B or NOT 2B that is the question most asked about Murphy….
I think another year and a half will answer that.
It’s the same Shredder from Ninja Turtles
I have a shredder too…And whoever I run through it comes out as Chicklets not a top 10 baseball player!
Cano included! LOL
I wonder how much Murphy positioned and fielding on the OF grass skewed some of these numbers. I noticed in Sep., he moved up a little to the edge of the IF dirt. Progress.
I’d like to see him playing 2nd base this season positioned on the IF dirt as opposed to the OF grass.
Amazin’ Avenue had another nice look at this. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/1/12/3869292/new-york-mets-daniel-murphy-top-ten-second-baseman
I agree he is a top ten hitter at second base, but the fielding sets him back in the overall rankings a few spots. With more time at the position and more security, we’ll see some improvement with his glove soon enough (we already saw some improvement this year).
Joe, you’re wrong Bud. Alderson didn’t say that…
Terry Collins did. He said he views Second as an offensive position. I didn’t hear, before or after the remark, that he didn’t care about defense. I think you might be filling in the gaps with whatever sounds worse.
I think you just like posting that I’m wrong everyday. Or just enjoy having me prove I’m right all the time.
When asked Wednesday how he views second, as a defense- or offense-first position, Alderson gave a one-sentence answer: “I view it as an offensive position if it can be.”
http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110316&content_id=16978678¬ebook_id=16980786&c_id=nym
You may want to read DePo’s comments on Lagares last week a couple of posts down. I think you challenged us on that too yesterday.
http://metsblog.com/metsblog/sandy-alderson-on-the-state-of-the-mets/
Earlier today, Sandy Alderson talked to reporters about the state of the team, and said he will give serious consideration to the opinions of Terry Collins, the coaches, and his scouts, when settling on a 25-man roster.
In addition, Alderson basically said:
There are no updates on Carlos Beltran;
Second base is an offensive position;
===
You still wanna argue this point ?
This just goes to show a few things I’ve been saying
1) A lot of us seem to be living in a bubble. We just see Murphy having trouble on some plays and assume every other team has vacuum cleaners at 2B. There are only 30 teams and only 22 had one guy play 2B more than 100 games.
2) Murphy isn’t as horrid defensively as so many around here gleefully claim. Actual coaches say he plays fairly passable defense. He seems to have a bigger problem with reputation and looks rather than actual ability. The Miguel Cabrera Effect.
3) Good defense might preserve a game, good offense changes them.
Miguel Cabrera was a horrible 3B
hanley ramirez was a horrible SS
Dan Uggla was a horrible 2B
this is why combined they had the worst defensive infield in baseball in 2008
if u look at the stats
http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+fielding§ionType=st&statType=fielding&page=1&ts=1358027591855&sortColumn=fpct&sortOrder='desc'&extended=0&season=2009&season_type=ANY&playerType=QUALIFIER&sportCode='mlb'&league_code='MLB'&split=&team_id=&active_sw=&game_type='R'&position=&page_type=SortablePlayer&results=&perPage=50&timeframe=&last_x_days=
and sort it by year…u see every year those guys were paired together, Florida had the worst defense in baseball
thats not reputation, thats FACTS !
Murphy and Duda were stasticially the WORST FIELDERS for their positions in 2012…of course u dont need a stat sheet to see that…but to ignore their short-comings b/c someone puts Murphy on a top 10 list is bat-sh*t crazy
and I love murph, wish we had 24 more guys with that kind of fire…but in reality, he is a better hitting version of chris “the animal” carter
Cabrera is not as bad as people claim. I’ll give you Uggla and Ramirez, but Cabrera has actually been solid. Not a defensive gem, but he doesn’t cost you any runs.
solid ?
in 2006 he had 17 errors…
in 2007 he had 23 errors …
his zone ratings were horrible…
his fielding percentages were horrible
this is why the next 4 seasons he played 1B…
then he moved back to 3B where had a decent year…
this may be due to his maturity level. Cabrera is a different person at age 29 than he was at age 23…it does seem like he takes the game more serious now, which is why he took his game to another level.
speculation of course…
First off, 6 seasons ago. things change.
Second, do you know how errors are scored? A guy sitting in a booth sees the play happen and decides if a player should have come up with it. There is no objective standard. It is totally subjective.
errors are totally subjective?
ok
Zone ratings and 100 other ways to measure defense showed Miggy was terrible…which explains why Detroit had him at 1B til they signed Fielder
And what do we all say about defensive metrics?
Jobu think Donal know nothing about baseball. Stay out of comment threads you put Jobu to sleep.
sidenote:
its crazy how in 2007, we never in a million years would’ve traded wright for cabrera…
and now, although they are the same age. Cabrera has eclipsed Wright by leaps and bounds.
FYI -
AFTER signing an extension with Detroit in 2008 at age 25…Cabrera will be a free-agent again at age 32…
the perfect way to invest…
One thing too that I’d like to add is that Murph made some pretty good improvements in the field as the season went on while having a slight down year with the bat.
I’m not sure where to rank Murph compared to the rest of the league…I honestly don’t care. To make a fair judgment on him, we need to see what kinds of improvements he makes now that he has a full season under his belt.
Last year at the start of the season, I was keep a record of how Murph’s bat and glove actually affected the out come of a game. Basically it was how many runs did Murph cost because of a bad play and how many runs did the team score because of a direct result of Murph getting on base or driving a run in. There was plenty of games that he didn’t have a positive or negative affect on the outcome of a game, but he by far had more important hits than costly plays. It doesn’t prove how much value he has, it did show that his glove wasn’t hurting the team as much as some wanted to believe.
with ike likely on his way out, 1B/2B will be pretty much Murph + Flores. Not sure who is going to play what position.
Ike looks like he takes absolutely no shit, no different than RA. u cant push folks like that around
so after Ike provides 99% of our offense , we trade him for OF prospects in 2014…pushing the Sandy date to 2018
wait…
the awesome draft pick Brandon Neemo should be around 22-23 years old by 2014, Im sure we’ll be fine
( if we’re lucky, vicente lupo will continue to progress and be our LF/RF by 2015 )
“In Minaya´s case, the truth is somewhere in between. He was neither the architect of longterm Mets greatness nor the village idiot who spent the rest of the Wilpons´ fortunes.”
I thought about this for a second…
with the amount of meddling the wilpons do…
is it ever possible to have a true architect who designs this team in his image and is set for long term success ?
I mean i think we all can agree that the David Wright deal was not Sandy’s idea…
so with that being the case, how can we truly judge any GM’s body of work here when so much of it is controlled by either Jeff or Fred with neither one willing to ever accept responsibility ?
( this can segway into a nice article by the way )
#justsayin
JDD,
Yes, it comes down to the meddling, so we in bloggerworld can only speculate on the judgment of any of the Mets recent GMs. Really, Omar and Alderson are both very capable, seasoned MLB men, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. But as the saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray, especially when Jeff Wilpon carries the big stick. Had the Wilpons given Omar another million or two to create a little more depth in 2007 and 2008, he may have overseen a 3 time divisional champ and who knows what beyond that, but that wasn’t the case. Same thing with Alderson the last couple of years, the budget and the DW situation clearly had ownership involved and calling the shots.