Daniel Murphy has experienced a rollercoaster of a season in 2015, as he’s battled a couple of leg injuries and the inconsistent performances which have resulted in that missed time.
But it appears Murphy has finally found his stride after an uneven first half of the season, and certainly seems to be feeding off the new energy which has surrounded his team over the last ten days.
He has been red hot at the plate since the start of their series against the Nationals on July 31, hitting .357/.378/.619 with five doubles, two home runs and seven RBI in ten games during that span.
Murphy is enjoying a seven-game hitting streak during which he’s posted four multiple-hit games while hitting .414/.452/.724 in 31 plate appearances during this stretch.
But he’s also coming through with big hits at big moments.
There was his long home run against the Nationals last Sunday at Citi Field. He hit a solo home run on Friday night against the Rays in the eighth inning of Friday’s win to tie the game for the Mets. He drove in two runs with a two-out single in the second inning on Sunday against the Rays, although the Mets ultimately lost that game.
But this is all coming at an opportune time for the 30-year-old infielder, as he’s a free agent following the World Series.
A solid performance down the stretch and hopefully a strong performance in the postseason would be mutually beneficial for both he and the Mets, as that could conceivably ascend him to the top of the second base market this winter.
He has said all the right things throughout the year, going as far as saying he wants to remain with the Mets beyond this season. But there is still no indication the club has any interest in retaining Murphy beyond 2015. All signs continue to point to Murphy being elsewhere in 2016 with Dilson Herrera being the obvious successor at second base.
If the Mets let Murphy walk, would they be assuming risk? There’s no question retaining a known quantity for an unknown quantity is risky (although Herrera is a young, promising player with the potential to be better in the long-term), especially if the club intends to remain competitive in the short-term.
But, as it’s been discussed time and time again, it’s a value game when it comes to any player, and if the Mets feel they have or can get an equivalent, if not better player for the position in both the short and long-term at a lesser cost, it’s not an unreasonable consideration to make.
The question is, of course, can Herrera (or anyone else) replace Murphy’s .752 career OPS at second base in 2016?
If only they could predict the future.
Just Mets 
2 responses to “Daniel Murphy is red hot at the plate, and it’s coming at the right time”
Of course,mother correct responsible adult in the room manages to KEEP both Murphy AND Herrera- other teams are quite proficient at retaining/ juggling and we have gotten some experience in taxiing guys around. Bout time. Savey GMs have an UBER APP- these guys go up & down daily. Jockey them because DW is gonna need MURPH as his backup, not Juan Uribe.
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There is certainly much to like about Murph both as a player and even more as a teammate, But still Murph has become a verb as a result of his sometime physical and mental gaffs and remember he will be back at 2B w/ Wright’s hopeful return, So Baron’s right the issue if purely financial and in this light NYM can spent their money better.
Consider NYM can shed nearly 25 mil. from its opening day salary (Colon, Gee. Parnell, Mayberry, Caryle and Mejia (lost for most of the season and they can’t bring him back when eligible). Most if not all of this money will be used to pay already existing raises (Cuddyer, Lagares, Niese), arbitration eligible dollars (Duda, Harvey and I think Familia and maybe others) and small salary increases to current players and finding a few new ones).
If a winning team should increase payroll by 10 percent, would translate to 10 million dollars or what Murphy would cost on open market (probably on the short side). I would prefer to drop Murph and use his money to sign Cespedes, which if at 20 mil would produce about 12 mil increase over last year or slightly above the 10 percent rise. Which seems reasonable.
I would also add that if Murph goes opens slot for Wilmer at second as well if Herrera not ready.
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