Drafted by the New York Mets in the 13th round back in 2006, the first 10 years of Daniel Murphy’s career came as a member of the Mets organization. During that time, Murphy played in over 900 games. Yet his imprint on this franchise resides in a single week.

It boils down to one hot streak for a hitter who was so confident with his bat that he infamously told his teammates at Jacksonville University his position was batting third when he was just a freshman.

Years later, a tortured fan base watched in awe as one of their own shocked the world to become the best hitter on the planet.

From Thursday October 15, through Wednesday October 21, Murphy went 12-for-21 (.571) with two doubles, FIVE home runs and eight RBI. The Mets won five-straight games across that span, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS, before sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.

Including the home run Murphy hit off Clayton Kershaw in a Game 4 loss on October 13, the 30-year-old second baseman homered in six straight games, setting an MLB record. In the process, Murphy was the catalyst to ending a 15-year World Series drought.

Eventually the law of averages caught up with Murphy and the 2015 Mets, as they lost to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Five days later, the 2015 NLCS MVP became a free agent.

After his postseason heroics, the Mets tendered Murphy a one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer (which they knew he would decline). With draft compensation coming their way, the Mets led by Jeff Wilpon unceremoniously waved goodbye to Murphy, burning that bridge without a second thought.

To replace him, the Mets traded Jon Niese for Neil Walker in a deal that took place two weeks before Murphy had signed in free agency. Then on Christmas Eve, Murphy signed a three-year, $37.5 million deal to join the Mets rival Washington Nationals.

Washington went on to beat the Mets 25 times over the next two seasons, winning the NL East each year. Murphy finished second in the MVP voting in 2016, as he led the league with 47 doubles, while also pacing the National League with his .595 slugging percentage and .985 OPS.

Only making things worse, the Silver Slugger-winning second baseman did a lot of that damage against the Mets, hitting .413/.444/.773 with six doubles, seven home runs and 21 RBI against his former team.

During the Wilpon era, the Mets were often quick to give up on homegrown talent as soon as they became free agents. Outside of David Wright and Jacob deGrom, players like Jose Reyes, Murphy and Zack Wheeler were never given a real chance to stay.

Unfortunately by pushing him out the door, Wilpon may have robbed Murphy of a truly iconic Mets career.

Let’s imagine Murphy’s Nationals career never happened and he instead signed that three-year deal to remain with the Mets. Murphy could’ve joined a short list of eight former Mets who have won multiple Silver Sluggers, while also boosting his career stats among the franchise leaderboards.

During his time in Washington, Murphy racked up 413 hits, 199 runs, 99 doubles and 226 RBI across 342 games played. If you add those totals to Murphy’s stats across seven years with the Mets, here is how he would rank all-time.

  • Hits: 1,380, Fourth
  • Runs: 621, Fifth
  • Doubles: 327, Second
  • RBI: 628, Fifth

There is no guarantee how everything would have played out had the New York Mets re-signed Daniel Murphy back in 2016. Maybe Murphy doesn’t enjoy quite the same success in Queens as he did at the nation’s capital.

Still, considering the fact that James Loney started 100 games that year, it’s fair to assume the Mets would have fared a bit better with Murphy. With him, maybe the Mets win a Wild Card game in 2016 or take the division and make another deep run in the playoffs.

In the end, we will never know what could have been for the Mets or for Murphy.

But as we celebrate a memorable former Met on his retirement, we can hope that Murphy’s story is a warning sign that this new regime does not ignore. Keeping a homegrown All-Star should always be prioritized when possible.

Hopefully when Michael Conforto retires many years from now, we are not left asking “What if?” again….