Even after Friday night’s four-homer outburst, the Mets are still last in the National League in runs scored and 28th in MLB. Is it just an early-season slump, or is it something more? And considering Daniel Murphy’s great start with Washington, are the Mets already missing his bat?
I appreciate what Murphy did for the Mets last year to the point where I have tickets for his first game back at Citi Field. But during the offseason, Neil Walker did seem to me like a good, and perhaps superior, replacement. And indeed, while Murphy already has 2 homers and 7 RBI, Walker has the exact same 2 HR and 7 RBI.
Granted, Murphy is hitting .464 while Walker is hitting .250. Murphy also has 7 BB while Walker has none, leaving Murphy with a .571 OBP while Walker’s OBP is the same as his BA – .250. But the streaky Murphy won’t be hitting over .400 for long and the two players’ BA will be much closer before long. Last year, Murphy hit .281 while Walker hit .269.
But what if something really did change for Murphy late last season and he is now a much better hitter? Then the Mets missed out – but so did 28 other teams. And this was an offseason in which several teams from big markets were looking for second basemen, yet Murphy had to settle for a relatively low three-year, $37.5M deal. Meanwhile, the Cubs signed Ben Zobrist for four years and $56M and the Yankees traded for Starlin Castro and the $38M remaining on his contract (over four years). The Dodgers re-signed Howie Kendrick for 2 years, $20M, while the Mets traded for Walker and the $10.5M remaining on his deal (for 2026).
If we’re going to make evaluations two weeks into the season, let’s also note that the Mets supposedly offered Zobrist a four-year deal for $60M, and he is hitting .237 with no HR and 4 RBI. I was skeptical of the Mets offering such a long deal to Zobrist, who turns 35 next month and remain glad they didn’t. While the juggernaut Cubs seem like they can do no wrong, the second baseman they got rid of, Castro, is hitting .303 with 2 HR and 9 RBI.
Ultimately Murphy is the player who was the MVP in the NLCS thanks to his great hitting and helped cost the Mets the World Series with his fielding lapses. If the Mets had brought him back, they would have had to take the good with the bad.
Perhaps the best way for the Mets to have brought Murphy back would have been as a third baseman, but that wasn’t going to happen with David Wright owed $87M and also being the face of the franchise.
Let’s hope last night’s four-homer outburst means the team is breaking out of its hitting slump. Unfortunately, last night’s ninth-inning near collapse suggest the bullpen could be a bigger concern.
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