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Eddie Kunz will blogging his experience in the Arizona Fall League at MLB.com, and will occasionally be joined online by Bobby Parnell, Tobi Stoner and Dan Murphy, among others.
Today, Murphy jumps on to the keyboard to discuss his time in the AFL so far, while writing the following about his recent injury:
“As of right now I am currently not in the lineup due a forearm injury that took place in the annual Rising Stars game. Hopefully I should be ready for action by the end of this week but as of now I am daily consulting with our trainer Joe Golia who has taken care of me since the injury. But I am looking forward to being back in the lineup and further hone my skills at second base and in the batters box…Everyday I am getting top of the line coaching and I feel that I am getting more consistent at second base and hope to one day be able to help the Mets at that position if they so choose.”
In 10 games in the AFL, Murphy is batting .400 with four doubles, one HR, 11 RBI and just three strike outs.
Murphy should be the Mets 2nd baseman next season, period. If he can’t handle it you can always trade for a Grudzy type player.
We can handle a drop in defense as long as he is getting better.
This gives us room to upgrade the offense in LF as well. Maybe this is why 2B is not a priority for Omar.
This man is no dummy. He knows showing his skills at 2B is the best way for him to play at Citi Field. He’s probably practicing double plays in his hotel room.
LOL! I can just picture that….hiring a couple of bellhops to throw grounders and slide at him while he tosses the ball to the room service guy….
And you are so right. If he shows he can competently handle second, he will be given every chance to play 2B, and hopefully hit 2nd, where he could potentially be excellent.
OBP? Walks?
His OBP is at least .400, which is good enough for me! ;)
But seriously…his OBP is a cool .500.
16 hits and 8 walks in 48 plate appearances total.
i really hope he excels at 2nd base – i would hate to have to look at castillo’s ugly face there next season.
you know something…turtle from entourage would look just like him if he was white or vice versa.
What? I have no clue what you’re trying to say, but Turtle isn’t racist.
If murphy played average defense at 2b next year, with a .295 avg and .360 obp, and 15 homers, would anyone be upset?
i think this is realistic, if his performance (albeit not a huge sample) is any indication going forward.
Upset?
I think we would all be thrilled if he can do this…and if he can do something at this pace in the spring, with the OBP and patience he showed this year, and start off batting 2nd, we will be psyched I think.
He could play below average defense and still be an upgrade over our current options. Easley & Castillo are bad defensively and offensively. I think he would have to be like historically bad to be a worse option overall than them.
I hope Stoner makes it. I need a tie-dyed Mets jersey.
Awesome.
I think Stoner is an Aussie, if I remember correctly. Can you imagine all the “Stoner- BillaBONG” headlines?
sounds like they really are grooming Murph for 2B. Omar tried to downplay it, but this makes it really clear to me that they hope Murph is the future at 2B.
Exactly, Omar is saying that Castillo is our 2B just to try and get any trade value for him. At the very most Castillo starts the season at 2B and Murphy takes over after a month. Hopefully it is taken care of much earlier.
I would hope Murphy takes all the playing time, screw the month to “Try” to let no-knees raise his stock. If he isn’t traded by the start of spring trading i say buy him out and get him off this team. Ever since they got him the team has collapsed 2 times. Not saying he’s the cause of it, but he sure as he&% wasn’t the answer.
I say throw the kid out there. He won’t be a butcher at 2nd base. And if Jeff Kent, Soriano, and guys like Cano can play there i’m certain that Murphy can handle it. He played SS in high school, 1st and 3rd when drafted and outfield last year, and has been solid at every one. That’s all i ask for at 2nd base. You don’t need to be the best, just make the routine plays.
While I agree, I think it’s worth a little time to try and save some of the 18 million. Murphy will still get AB’s being able to play OF and IF. Again, hopefully that is solved well before the season.
I don’t understand why some Mets fans on this site think it is a dumb idea to have even thought of Murphy playing 2nd base.
In my opinion I don’t think the Mets would have him playing there if there was not at least a thought of playing him there.
The problem is going to be Castillo. I know the Mets will try hard to move him but it is going to be hard to do. I don’t think many teams are going to want him.
If Castillo is on this team next year he will start the season as the starting 2nd baseman. How long he lasts I don’t know but he will start there. I hate that very much but that is just the reality of it.
Can we please get off Dan Murphy’s dick. I know he’s a white guy that has shown potential, but haven’t we seen enough of this to know it doesnt mean much. Fernando Tatis mashed for a longer period than Murphy. Remember Angel Pagan’s early season heroics? You’d think this blog was dedicated to Daniel Murphy. I, for one, would not be ok goin into next season with Murphy penciled in at 2nd base. Somebody cited the fact that he played shortstop in high school as evidence for the case that he can play 2nd. Holy crap, 5% of the people reading this post probably played short stop in high school.
Next Metblog headline: Daniel Murphy picks up a quarter off the street, reveals potential to field grounders at 2nd base.
Tatis didn’t mash much the first two years of his career, and certainly did not have an intro into the majors like Murphy last year. Tatis had basically the 2nd best year of his career last year, other than the totally aberrational 1999 season.
We all see a potential Jeff Kent/Pete Rose type here. Maybe we are wrong, but compared to Slappy or Argenis the Anemic and the hurt Easley, why shouldn’t people be optimistic?
Pagan is four years older and wasn’t “heroic” for more than a few games.
And what does being white have to do with it?
so metsblog shouldn’t report on off-season injuries to potential starters?
Don’t pretend that because he’s white he gets more attention than tatis. He gets more attention because he’s a kid who came up through the mets system and could have a long future with this team. If that future is at second base, even better. To get that kind of offense from second would be awesome. And Pagan got hurt, so what’s your point? He wasn’t benched for not being white. Mets fans were pretty excited about him too, but murph is 4 years younger and, again, might be a MIDDLE IF.
I forgot the homegrown point, another good one…I think we could be seeing the second coming of David Wright or Jose here….guys who were good, but not great, in the minors, showed right away that they were ready for the majors when they got the chance, and have had great careers. Imagine if Murphy can join them and then we have an infield of Wright, Reyes, Murphy forever.
Now if Carp can hack it, we could have an awesome all-homegrown infield like the 70s Dodgers.
you can’t compare Murph to a guy like Pagan. people gushed over pagan for no apparent reason, just because he was semi home grown and we got him back for nothing. in his short time, what’d he hit..like .270 with 0 homers and 10 rbi’s? those are pedestrian numbers. the numbers murphy put up were incredible, albeit a short period of time. i really like the kid a lot and am hoping he’s the answer, but i want to see him do it over a full season. if he can sustain at least a .280 avg next year, hit a few bombs here or there, play league average defense at 2b and help manufacture runs at the top of the order with his patience, i will be very happy. anything more is icing.
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Wow. I write one “bad word” 6 months ago and Im totally banned. RIP QnsNative718. Anyway, to say Mets fans are jumping on Murphy’s jock is ridiculous. Along with Delgado this kid was the spark that propelled the Mets to that second half run. Me along with many other fans see something really special in this kid. His hustle, his plate discipline etc are undeniable. He is definately a piece to this Mets puzzle.
Amen to all of that.
He can potentially be the perfect #2 hitter for this team as well.
and luis castillo could “potentially” return to form and be the perfect #2 hitter. i’d wager theres a better chance of that than murphy maintaining his production.
I don’t think he’ll maintain his season end line, but it’s hard to be a worse offensively than Castillo.
Castillo hasn’t been anything remotely like the perfect #2 hitter since 2003.
Contrary to pop. belief, it’s bad for a #2 hitter not to have any power.
prince ollie, your just a hater on the murph dowg. murphy is not cancer but castillo is.
I think Castillo paid Price Ollie to do some campainging for him because I cant honestly see how someone would want this guy starting at 2nd in ‘09.
When I went to the ball park this year, I would be disappointed if I didn’t see Murphy’s # on the scoreboard. That reminds me of when Wright and Reyes came up. I’d get to the stadium and see those guys in the lineup knowing I was in for a treat. I get that same feeling for Murphy and it’s something special. The kid knows how to play and certainly made a name for himself. Why anyone would question him is beyond me, but this kid has given us no reason not to get behind him and know that he will get the job done. I honestly have not seen a Met this determined and motivated since DWright came up. It’s exciting. Embrace it and hope that he can open up as our 09 2nd basemen and then we can spend a little more money on a big bat in LF and crop up the pen and add a starter and we will once again have the playoffs to look forward to while totally forgetting about our 07 and 08 falters (that means taking the axe to castillo, heilman, pedro, etc)
We can’t be sure about him yet. I’m as high as anyone on him, but we have to contain the optimism a little bit.
The point is that Castillo is so bad both on offense and defense and durability and attitude and contract and physical looks and hairstyle* and every other way that there is no downside to not trying Murphy, not that Murphy should be hailed as the answer yet. And we’ll have to give Murphy a chance to struggle without giving up on him.
*Argenis’ hair I will admit, is worse than Castillo’s.
*ahem* no downside to trying Murphy.
Prince Ollie, you can’t be serious. Get outta here with these comments.
Ollie,Ollie,Ollie…You race baiting fool,excuse us for getting alittle excited about one of our home grown talents..its called being a fan.
I’ll tell you what,we’ll get off murphy’s jock when you get your head out of Castillo’s #$$!!!
Have a nice day.
Castillo’s #$$!!!,,,,,,i hope i dont have nightmares tonite,,,,,