With David Wright‘s immediate future currently up in the air, the Mets have a huge hole in their lineup at the hot corner. Danny Muno and Eric Campbell don’t look like players that can fill an everyday role in the lineup. We have seen Campbell have success off the bench (last year), but he gets over-matched and exposed quickly.
This year, Campbell is batting .181 but does have a close-to-respectable .307 OBP considering he has been used off the bench quite a bit. The option, Danny Muno, hasn’t passed the eye test for me. What I mean is that in baseball, there is an intangible evaluation that takes place when you see a player take his at-bats. While he seems that he can play adequate defense in the short term (nice web-gem last night), he looks off at the plate. Muno never wowed at the plate, and has batted under .300 with all the Mets minor-league affiliates except Brooklyn. He has one hit in 14 at-bats so far this year with the Mets.
It’s important to give a player a fair shot, no matter if they are a highly touted prospect or not (see: Jacob deGrom). However, he’s not the answer. The Mets need some means of offensive production coming from third-base while the captain is sidelined.
I propose a different solution that I think would already be in effect if Dilson Herrera wasn’t on the disabled list. Daniel Murphy, one of the two veterans on the infield, can handle the duties at the hot-corner and I wouldn’t imagine his defense will be missed much at second. Matt Reynolds can be called up to handle the second-base duties in the mean time. In a perfect world, the Mets would be doing this already only with Herrera at second. However, he is currently unavailable.
Matt Reynolds isn’t a top prospect. He doesn’t have much power. He won’t steal many bases. However, he is a player that has proven his bat in the minors. Last year, he hit .343/.405/.454 between Binghamton and Las Vegas. After getting off to a hot start in 2015, he has slowed down a bit but is still boasting a comfortable slash-line. He has played both second and short, and could be relied on for league-average defense at worst.
People would argue that moving Murphy around the infield right now isn’t the right move. After a slow start, he is one of the hottest hitters in the Mets lineup right now and a lack of consistency in regards to his position could inhibit his offensive production (see: Wilmer Flores). However, he is a veteran and the Mets should show confidence in him. Murphy approaches the game with a good attitude and would hopefully take the change in stride.
This makes sense. Give the kid a shot. He has a track-record in the minors and you never know what a prospect is until you give them a shot in the big show.
TL-DR: Call Matt Reynolds up from Vegas, play him at 3rd and move Murphy to 2nd in the short-term.
