According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Daniel Murphy is the one player on the Mets that the Dodgers tried to trade for at the Winter Meetings, according to a baseball source, and they might make another run at him.
Murphy was the unnamed player general manager Ned Colletti referred to when he said he might be able to upgrade the roster at the Winter Meetings, adding yet another multi-position player after earlier signing Jerry Hairston Jr. and Adam Kennedy.
Gurmick adds that the trade unraveled when the Mets satisfied their need elsewhere without having to trade Murphy, a reference perhaps to Giants outfielder Andres Torres.
Aside from some defensive jitters in the field – most likely due to being bounced around between positions he has very little pro experience playing – Murphy is one of the most proficient hitters on the team.
Before having his season cut short again in 2011, Murphy, now 26, hit .320 in 109 games and was 5th in the league in batting before he got injured.
There are plenty of other teams interested in him, and he’s become quite the hot commodity for the Mets, surprisingly so.
Ike Davis and Jon Niese, both 24, have also been mentioned in some trade rumors which is kind of baffling really. When asked about it, Alderson basically said David Wright is the only player assured of not being traded this winter.
So this plan, if that’s what you want to call it, doesn’t seem to be based on keeping any of the current younger players like Niese, Davis and I would imagine Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda as well.
It looks more like tearing down any remnants of the Minaya era and replacing them all with Alderson-approved players.
They can deny it all they want, but this is the same thing their doing in Oakland right now, everybody’s available for more prospects. A cycle of rebuilding every 5-6 years. I can’t believe after the A’s have been tooting their horn for years about developing Andrew Bailey, Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez – they’re all being traded after less than 4 years of service despite how they’ve shined. That scares me.
Wright is only being kept around to sell some jerseys and tickets – and to prevent a mass exodus of any remaining interested fans who still remain loyal – for now.
