Daniel Murphy doesn’t seem to be getting much better — which is a problem for the Mets.
Murphy is one of the team’s most curious players, because as the Mets look to 2013, the second baseman represents both the known and the unknown. The known is he’s a decent major league player. The unknown is whether he’s better than that.
Last night, Murphy was not in the Mets’ lineup because Terry Collins believes he’s worn out and needs a small respite. The manager played Justin Turner in the Mets’ 3-1 loss to the Astros, the team’s sixth straight defeat, and plans to rest Murphy again this afternoon before returning Murphy to the lineup for tomorrow’s series finale.
“I’m no more tired than anybody else is,” Murphy said.
Murphy deserves credit for not complaining of fatigue, even though he’s in a 6-for-47 rut with no extra-base hits in his last 14 games.
But those struggles are part of Murphy’s overall issues. In his first full season in 2009, he batted .266 with 12 homers, 63 RBIs and a .741 OPS. Through game 126 of his third full season, he’s batting .286 with four homers, 53 RBIs and a .730 OPS.
“We’re not winning ballgames, so that’s frustrating,” Murphy said when asked about his season. “You always assess the season in wins and losses.”
But with Murphy specifically, the progress has been hard to see. And Murphy — the longest-tenured Met after David Wright and Johan Santana — is going to play next year in his age-28 season, and is about to get expensive as he becomes arbitration-eligible.
So if the Mets are going to keep Murphy as their everyday second baseman going forward, they’re going to pay more money for him. Will they get a better player? And if they don’t, is what he currently gives enough?
While Murphy’s production seems to have plateaued, he still entered last night tied for fifth among National League second basemen in OPS. Granted, most of the sport’s best second basemen are in the American League (Robinson Cano, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia), but even with that, Murphy entered last night tied for ninth among MLB second basemen in OPS. So if he’s going to be a top-10 second baseman in terms of production, that’s valuable. And that’s probably fine for a couple million dollars per year.
Still, it’s disheartening to the Mets Murphy doesn’t seem to be getting better. Also, he’s probably miscast being a No. 2 hitter (which he has been 40 times this year) and also a No. 5 hitter (46 times). Being a No. 2 hitter probably only works if the Mets’ 3-4-5 were Wright, an in-his-prime Carlos Beltran and an in-his-prime Carlos Delgado.
Collins yesterday praised Murphy for his work ethic, unselfishness, clutch hitting and overall production, saying he knows what Murphy is.
“I call him a baseball junkie,” Collins said. “He’ll play anywhere and do anything it takes.”
Collins did say he thinks the transition to second base this season weighed on Murphy mentally. So maybe his comfort level at the position next year will help his production improve. Right now, Murphy’s progress as a hitter seems static, a disturbing development in 2012.