Daniel Murphy, Denard Span, Brandon Maurer, Travis d'Arnaud

Everybody is going to start grading Mets players this time of the year who we’ll use the ones on this site and add some thoughts:

Daniel Murphy, second base - It’s probably time the Mets, and some fans, stopped talking about trading Murphy. He led the team in offensive WAR for the second straight season (3.4) thanks to a team-high .289 average and 37 doubles. He also led the team in hits by 28. Unless the Mets think there’s no chance of re-signing him at a reasonable rate after 2015 it makes no sense to talk deals.  Grade: A–   

http://www.metro.us/newyork/sports/mlb/2014/09/30/mets-2014-report-card/

Mack – Daniel Murphy is going to be the New York Mets second baseman on opening day… unless he’s the New York Mets third baseman on opening day. Past that, who knows.

I’d like to roll the dice and keep him for the entire 2015 season, let his go free agent in 2016, and take the draft pick give. It gets a whole year of him and one more year of maturation of Dilson Herrera.

Don’t worry… I’ll change my mind 3-4 more times here before the end comes.

OF Denard Span, Washington Nationals - I owned this 2014 top-50 rotisserie asset in my 15-team mixed league. It was great. Surely, the Nats will exercise Span’s option for 2015. That might be comforting. Span, 30, didn’t make any vast improvements in his metrics to suggest that this is more than a career year, one filled with good health and maximization of capitalization on opportunities, however. He may age gracefully, but the point is that those things age, and he’s on the wrong side of it. His 2015 projection won’t include a .300 AVG, I assure you. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/i-surely-wont-own-these-5-players-in-2015/

        Mack - Boy I would love to have this guy on my team.

It seems like he's been around forever... was drafted in the 1st round (20th overall) in the 2002 draft. Played with the Twins through the 2012 season. Was traded to the Nats on 11-29-12 for pitcher Alex Meyer... hit .302 this past season in 610 at-bats.

Brandon Maurer - Both Maurer (first) and Aaron Sanchez (13th) showed up on the list without the minimum 100 thrown, so they deserve some love. The difference between Maurer’s spin rate (2319) and that shown by Garret Richards is larger than the difference between Richards’ and McHugh’s (5th with 2011). So Maurer’s curve has something special going on. In terms of results, the 252 he’s thrown have gotten a 10% whiff rate, which is about average. But a glance at his pitch peripherals suggests that Maurer is a sleeper for reasons other than the spin rate on his curveball, too. His change (11%) and slider (16%) are average or better. And though his fastballs don’t get great whiffs (5% combined), they do hum along at 92. Maurer’s story is not yet fully written. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/finding-the-next-collin-mchugh-with-spin-rates/

          Mack - This was part of a post on Fangraphs about pitcher Collin McHugh and the spin rate on his curve (I mentioned in late September that I would be using the off-season to feature material written on some players outside the Mets system. 

Maurer is only 23 and is just beginning to get his feet wet. The 6-5 righty was the 23rd pick in the 2008 draft, out of Orange (CA) High School.

Travis d'Arnaud's second season. It's been covered extensively but the positive signs that d'Arnaud showed after returning from a Triple-A demotion should and has given the club optimism. For three months he gave the Mets a power-hitting catcher -- a rare commodity in baseball. If he can maintain that level of hitting for a full season, it plugs one hole in the Mets lineup and gives them much needed depth. http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2014/10/mets_7_best_things_about_their_2014_season.html

       Mack - I like the ring of 'power-hitting catcher'.