Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that he would be open to discussing an extension with the front office, but that no such talks have taken place yet.
Murphy said that he leaves the contract negotiations and extensions all to his agent, but added that he feels extraordinarily lucky to be where he is right now financially. “I’ve made an ungodly amount of money. That’s the only way to describe it,” Murphy said.
“You see an organization heading in the direction that we’re heading, it’s an exciting time. So you always want to be a part of that. …But I do want to be a part of the solution.”
DiComo writes that for all his flaws, Murphy has established himself as an integral part of the 2014 Mets and that the team is depending on him to stay healthy, play every day and post numbers resembling those that he produced last year.
He’s right about that and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Murphy eclipse last season’s performance especially in the power department as well as taking a few more walks. If he does that – and it’s not really asking too much – Murphy easily becomes a Top 10 second baseman.
Last season, Murphy finished the year with a .286 batting average, 38 doubles, 13 homers, 78 RBI, 92 runs scored and 23 stolen bases. The 28-year old finished in the National League’s top ten in base hits, doubles, runs scored and even stolen bases.
This Winter, Murphy signed a $5.7-million contract in his second year of arbitration eligibility. DiComo wrote that “he nearly doubled his lifetime earnings with a single pen stroke.”
Would I discuss an extension with him? Considering that Dilson Herrera is at least 3-4 years away, absolutely… why not? However, before any of that, I need to know where Wilmer Flores figures into the equation.
The truth is I love both Flores and Murphy, but given the Mets’ situation I also understand that one of them may need to get traded depending on a lot of other things that are going on.
Ideally, wouldn’t it be great if Flores can show something at shortstop this Spring and wrestle the starting job away from Ruben Tejada? In that instance, I’d be salivating at the thought of how much production we could get from our middle infield.
