Frank Gray - Daniel Murphy: A little faith can go a long way



Photo by Mack Ade

The New York Mets have searched for a second baseman for two years. That includes the final year of Luis Castillo's tenure in Queens. They have tried Justin Turner, Chin Lung Hu, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy among others. Of these players, Tejada and Murphy stood out. Turner has becomes a fan favorite as well.

With the departure of Jose Reyes, the Mets will be filling the void at short stop with Tejada. That leaves Turner and Murphy to pick up the slack at second base. Last season, Murphy impressed with his bat (.320 AVG, 6 HR and 49 RBI) but not his glove (10 errors). The exact opposite can be said for Turner (.260 AVG, 4 HR and 51 RBI). Both were counted on to fill in for multiple positions.

There have been reports that the Mets will be sticking with Murphy as the starter, there has been a collective cry of outage from the fanbase for the most part.  This begs an important question. Why? Did he make far too many errors and a few base-running blunders last season? Sure. Is he the first to do so while playing multiple positions? Absolutely not!

There have been examples of players that started off their careers on a bad note in the field and settled into their roles to become solid players. One example was written over the weekend by Mack's Mets friend and Mets360 blogger Brian Joura. He compares Murphy to Lou Piniella early in his playing career. It's astounding how similar the numbers are.

He committed seven errors in his first full season, while Murphy had 10. He had a .290 AVG with 22 HR and 302 hits in his first 300 games. When compared to Murphy during that same stretch, it's a difference of one hit, two points in the AVG and two home runs in 11 fewer at bats for Murphy. Piniella was a one time All-Star and a Rookie of the Year award winner that played 18 seasons and had a career .291 AVG. For me, however, Sweet Lou is a gauge of Murphy's minimum potential.

Another higher benchmark may be Ryan Sandberg. Believe it or not, Sandberg's numbers through his first 300 games are nearly identical to Daniel Murphy. Through Sandberg's first two full seasons, he played three different position and had 25 errors. That is not a typo.

He had just 15 HR, 102 RBI and a .265 AVG in 314 games combined between the two seasons. As everyone knows, the following year, he won the MVP award and went on to a Hall of Fame career. By comparison, Murphy has had 20 HR, 129 RBI and a .292 AVG in 313 games.

Am I saying Murphy is destined for this greatness? Not at all. But I am saying he is capable settling into his role as a second baseman and using his bat to outweigh his glove. Like Sandberg, Murphy's glove will come around. Will he win a Gold Glove nine times like Ryan Sandberg? Probably not, but the point is he could become a reliable fielder as well.

The Cubs and their fans gave Sandberg a chance. They showed faith in him and he made that faith pay off. The Mets and our fans need to do the same with Murphy. He is more than capable of taking the reigns of the second base position for the next decade if they show him faith now.

He may not develop into a Hall of Fame candidate like Ryan Sandberg, but he may be better than Lou Piniella in his playing days. Only time will tell, but the Mets need to show dedication to him in order to give him that chance to blossom into his potential. If they do, he may make that faith in him pay off ten fold for the organization.