Just Mets

With Daniel Murphy nursing a pulled right hamstring and about two weeks to go until Opening Day, the Mets are being forced to consider alternatives at second base to start the season.

Earlier this week, Sandy Alderson told the media they’re considering Daniel Muno and Matt Reynolds to temporarily replace Murphy. Dilson Herrera will remain in the minor leagues and Wilmer Flores will be the Opening Day shortstop assuming everything remains at a status quo.

However, on Saturday, Terry Collins suggested to the New York Post Ruben Tejada could be the leading candidate to replace Murphy at second base if needed.

“He played very well there a couple of years ago, so I don’t know why he shouldn’t be one of the lead candidates,” Collins said. “But we’ve got a long way to go before we worry about that.”

Tejada has not played second base since 2011, during which he made 55 appearances at that position.

Tejada has had a reasonably good camp to date. He went 2-for-4 with his fourth double of the spring, an RBI and a run scored to raise his average to .281 this month. He also has not committed an error in 12 games this spring.

Unlike Reynolds and Muno, Tejada is already on the 40-man roster. So, unless Murphy is going to sidelined beyond April 15-20, this will likely play a major role into the decision making process. In addition, as Collins pointed out, Tejada has done it before – the other two candidates aren’t even here yet.

The logical alternative to Tejada is Muno. It’s important Reynolds continues to work at shortstop in Las Vegas in the event Flores busts at the big league level, especially since it hasn’t always been pretty for Reynolds in the field.