Tom Brennan - SANDY ALDERSON'S BIGGEST REGRET - AND OURS TOO

Tom Brennan - SANDY ALDERSON'S BIGGEST REGRET - AND OURS TOO

In early February, as reported in the NY Post, "there was a decision during his tenure as the Mets general manager that still bothers him (Sandy Alderson).

“The one thing I regret — and I told him this — was not signing Daniel Murphy,’’ Alderson said. “We’ve kept in touch. He’s a great person and a really good player.”

That decision was extremely impactful.  Much worse than regrettable.

Re-signing Murphy, for a normal franchise, was a lay up, a complete no-brainer to me for a team that had just barely lost a World Series in a season where Murphy's value was huge..  

Daniel ignited in mid-2015 and hit like an MVP over the last 2 months of the Mets' surge to the playoffs in 2015.  Getting Yoenis Cespedes that July was huge - but Murphy coming down the stretch in 2015 was sensational: 50 games, 45 as a starter, .292 with 19 doubles, 2 triples, 8 homers and 37 RBIs.

Then, he was THE REASON the Mets got through the first 2 playoff rounds against the extremely formidable Dodgers staff and a great Cubs team.  

In 9 astonishing pre-world series playoff games, he hit .421, with 7 homers, 11 RBIs.  Yeah, I know, he was only 3 for 20 in the World Series, but man, the dude was on fire in the playoffs.  Essentially from August 1 on, he was a juggernaut.

From this website, I was imploring Mets management to re-sign Murphy and not be cheap.  Three years, $30 million or so, for a guy who certainly seemed to have taken his offensive game to a whole, new, higher level - but was that a lot for a second baseman, when perhaps we could go cheap with a Gavin Cecchini?  No it was not.

Anyway, I was recommending that the Mets sign Daniel and put him at FIRST BASE, and trade Lucas Duda.  

Lucas had 33 doubles and 27 homers in just 135 games - but he hit .242 and fanned a whopping 138 times because he never stopped taking too many pitches too early in the count.  Daniel fanned 100 times fewer - just 38 times -  yes, contact counts, my friends.  Just ask Jeff McNeil.

Duda was boring, too, c'mon admit it, and often disappointing - when he came up in the clutch, he was one of those guys you expected to fail, you just weren't sure how.

Duda made a not terribly expensive $6.7 million in 2016, and the Mets surely could have found some team to take him in a trade.  Since Murphy ended up making not much more in 2016, salary differential in 2016 was minimal.

Daniel also brought tremendous versatility - what if, say, the Mets second baseman got hurt?  He could have switched to second.  What if the "unimaginable" happened and "durable" David Wright became incapacitated?  Daniel could play 3rd.

To me it was an absolute no-brainer.

Compounding the mistake, Murphy went to the Mets' arch-rival Nationals - and did what?

Hit a prodigious .347/.390/.595 with 47 doubles, 5 triples, 25 homers and 104 RBIs despite playing just 142 games, and coming in 2nd in the MVP voting in 2016.  

Duda, meanwhile, had a terrible and injured season (47 games, .229), and David Wright managed less than 40 games, hitting .226, before essentially ending his career.

The Mets finished just 8 games behind the Nats, and lost in their one game wild card, largely because they couldn't hit - but Daniel sure could.  

There seems to be very little doubt that the Mets would have won the division again in 2016 had they kept Murphy.  Had that happened, perhaps they'd have gone on to win the World Series, given their hot finish to the season without Murphy.  They might have been close to unbeatable with Daniel.

In 2017, Murphy hit almost as well as his sensational 2016 - while the Mets' hitters crumbled.  One such hitter was the aformentioned Duda - just a very weak .219.  Wright? We all know he was a DNP in 2017.

The Mets finished 27 games out in 2017 - with Murphy, that gap would have been far smaller.

2018 with Murphy at first base, instead of Adrian Gonzalez and Dom Smith sucking up most of the games at 1B?  Even playing just 91 games due to his knee surgery, Daniel hit a potent .299, which certainly would have helped a team with impotent offense win more than the 77 games they managed, while finishing 13 games out.

Sandy Alderson saying it was the one thing he regretted was simply a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT.  It was just plain stupid.

P.S. Duda signed a minor league deal for 2019 after a lousy 2018 with Kansas City, David Wright retired, and Daniel Murphy is likely to put up a huge year in Colorado, so the saga has not yet been fully told.  

We traded for Cano (and Diaz), giving up two top prospects.  Cano, as good as he is, will likely find it hard to be as good as Murphy in 2019.  Maybe we would have still gotten Diaz, but somehow kept Jarred Kelenic, who could be a big star someday.

Our Murphy regret may continue.