The Mets are the talk of the baseball world with a blazing hot start to their season. The Mets currently are in 1st place in the NL East with a commanding lead of 4.5 games over 2nd place Atlanta.
Everything seems to be falling in place, as each Mets player has had a role in their amazin’ winning record of 14-4. There has not been many complaints of players underachieving or not contributing at all. The only player that has been sort of a letdown so far is Daniel Murphy, and here is why.
Daniel Murphy is the only Mets regular that has been struggling mightily out of the gate with an average in the low .100’s and defense so questionable that one has to wonder if he is the right man for the job on a team that is most definitely going for it all in 2015.
All to often Murphy seems to find a new way to create disturbance on the defensive side of the game, either with his glove, getting involved when he shouldn’t, not being properly positioned, not covering a base he should when getting a runner out, ect.
It might seem like I am coming down hard on Murphy, but let it be known that during 2014, I was one of his biggest supporters. I always cited Murphy’s high batting average and his ability to hit around 40 doubles a year as a reason to keep him as the starter at 2nd, despite his defensive shortcomings. He was also the Mets only representative at the All-Star Game in 2014, even though many debated whether he really deserved it or not. He has always hit, there’s no doubt about that.
Enter 2015, we have a ton of other talented options ready to play at 2nd.
We have Dilson Herrera who is currently raking at AAA Vegas with a .364 AVG, .394 OBP, and .879 OPS. He also has added three steals to his stat line, and his glove projects to definitely be better than Murphy’s.
Also at Vegas is Matt Reynolds who had a very nice Spring for the Mets this year. He is currently batting .309, and slugging .529 with 7 doubles, 2 home runs, and already 18 RBI’s. He has also stolen five bases, and we’ve all seen his glove in play. There’s no doubt Reynolds would be better defensively than Murphy as well.
Another consideration would be to move Flores’ hot bat to second and call up Reynolds to play SS, or vice-versa. Herrera is still very young and he can continue to develop at least until September when he’ll surely be called up.
L.J.Mazzilli is another nice second base prospect the Mets have in their pipeline, but his earliest, estimated time of arrival is at 2016.
Daniel Murphy of course could pick up his play, get his 180 hits, learn from his mistakes, and become an above average second baseman.
The Mets have some tough choices to make. I’m not complaining though, because they are all good problems to have. The more talent, the better.
So what do you think? Should the Mets call up Herrera? Reynolds? Move Flores to second? Give Daniel Muno a shot as he’s already on the active roster?
Should the Mets trade Murphy before the July 31 deadline or could he help this team as a super-sub player off the bench? Murphy has already played multiple positions, and could fill in if needed.
Or do you think he’ll get himself turned around somehow and reduce the recent rash of missteps, errors and mental gaffes?
You know things are bad for Murphy when even Gary, Keith and Ron are scratching their heads and calling him out for his “boneheaded” plays.
The good news is that the Mets have no shortage of options, it’s just a matter of which way they decide to go if Murphy fails to get it together. All good problems to have.
Anyway, it’s April and probably a bit premature for this debate, but as Gary Cohen said Friday, the Mets must be mulling over their options internally as they watch Murphy continuing to confound with his recent play.
For now, lets take 2 out of 3 from the Yankees tonight and continue our quest to take this town back from the Bombers. Let’s start a new winning streak! LGM!
