Assistant GM John Ricco told reporters today at the winter meetings that the Mets are still in contact with representatives for Daniel Murphy and are interested in re-signing him if a deal with Ben Zobrist doesn’t materialize.
Ricco also said the team is willing to go into next year with Dilson Herrera as the starter at second base if they fail to sign Murphy and Zobrist.
“We like Herrera. We think he’s pretty much done everything he’s needed to do in Triple-A. Could he go back and have a little bit more seasoning? Yeah, he definitely could.”
“But we also think he could come up right now. He’s had a couple of tastes of it. He could come up and, I think, compete right away. We’re looking at a couple of different options. One would be to pair Herrera with someone else. It could be to get a full-time guy like a Murph. But we’re kind of taking it one step at a time.”
The next contracts for Murphy and Zobrist will presumably be in the same ballpark, although a fourth year will be a sticking point for both players. Whether the deals are three or four years, both are expected to be in the $12-16 million range per season.
Zobrist has consistently outplayed Murphy throughout their careers with both the bat and the glove. However, he will be entering his age 35 season in 2016 whereas Murphy will be entering his age 31 season.
In 130 games this season, Murphy slashed .281/.322/.449 (110 wRC+) while Zobrist, in 126 games, hit .276/.359/.450 (123 wRC+).
