Just Mets

It will almost feel like the Mets made an acquisition when they welcome back Daniel Murphy from the disabled list on Tuesday.

Well, not quite, but they should get a much needed boost to the top of their lineup, at least giving themselves more opportunities to score with Murphy’s bat back in there.

The Mets badly missed Murphy’s offensive presence. The club went 10-12 while he was out and hit just .218/.286/.351 with 36 doubles, two triples, 19 home runs and just 66 runs scored in 22 games as a group in Murphy’s absence. And remember, four of those ten wins have come from their current four-game winning streak, a span in which they’ve scored 13 runs, six in one game and four of which were produced by a pitcher making his big league debut.

The slumber wasn’t helped by the fact both Lucas Duda and Michael Cuddyer have been mired in a month long slump either. But as promising as Dilson Herrera is, he is still raw and needs seasoning. And with respects to Eric Campbell, he is not an everyday player at this level right now.

It’s weird. The Mets are so desperate for Murphy and his bat to return, and so desperate for offense in general, his mental lapses and defensive miscues will have to simply be acceptable when they do occur. Fortunately, the Mets will be placing him at third base, his strongest position, moving Wilmer Flores to second base where he is theoretically less exposed, and shifting their best shortstop on the active roster in Ruben Tejada back to his natural position.

Remarkably, it’s the best possible defensive alignment the Mets can feature, and something that should’ve happened a while ago.

Terry Collins had expressed concern about messing with Flores’ psyche by shifting him out from shortstop too quickly, but the fact remains his defense was mostly subpar at best there, costing the team a lot of runs and some games in the process. Having Tejada at short should help protect Flores’ range to his right behind the second base bag, and theoretically anyway more routine plays should be made from a position where more ground balls are hit to than anywhere else on the infield.

As for Murphy, it will be worth watching his mobility early in his return. I had heard some noise over the weekend the main reason the club was holding him down in Florida was because his quad was not at 100 percent. So, it would be no surprise at all if Collins rested him frequently to start so to get his quad back to where it needs to be. These things typically take a month to heal, and he hasn’t quite reached that threshold as of yet.

But the Mets need him badly, both as an offense and – dare I say it – defensive upgrade right now as they head into their most difficult part of the schedule.

Make no mistake – it’s not as if Murphy and this new defensive alignment are going to radically transform the Mets. But considering there’s no guarantee the Mets can or will be trading for reinforcements this summer, the Mets have to do what they can from a run prevention perspective and keep these games close to give themselves a chance to score just enough.

That’s done with quality pitching in the rotation and bullpen and an air tight defense. While the latter still remains questionable, the former is not, and the new infield alignment will be better than it has been at any point this season and potentially an underrated benefit to getting Murphy back.

And while Murphy’s defense might have been crazy to accept before, the Mets seem happy and willing to accept that craziness today.