Blast From The Past - What if Daniel Murphy is For Real?

As most of you know, I cut and paste a lot of stuff on this site and there sure seems to be an awful lot of people jumping on the Daniel Murphy bandwagon lately.

Over the past few years I have pointed out that Murphy has hit well at all levels and the only negative to his game is his defensive skills in the field. I’m not saying he sucks; I’m just pointing out that, at a major league level, he doesn’t qualify as a Golden Glove contender.

For whatever reasons still undefined, the Mets deciced he was best suited to left field, and Murphy has since proved, 1) he can hit at the major league level, 2) he can hit in winter ball, and 3) he can hit in spring training.

This is like six or seven “he can hit” declarations that may go back to the Pony League… so there just might be a situation here where we can all safely say that the boy can hit.

Which leads to a brand new “positive” problem:

What If Daniel Murphy Is For Real?

We’ve been at this point before a few years back with David Wright. We knew the kid had talent, but he did stumble at the A level and, for a short time, everybody had a little double. Then David began to hit at all levels, sort of like Murphy is doing now, and everyone had to finally sign on to the Wright train.
Well, we may just be at the point that the Mets have found their future full time left fielder, when frankly, all they seem to be doing was trying to fill the spot until Fernando Martinez stopped getting hurt.

If this is true, we have a whole new set of problems come after the 2009 all-star break:

1. If Murphy becomes the full time Mets left fielder of the future, one must realize that he is not a power hitter, has a future probably as a #2 hitter, and makes the need for a future power bat in right field tantamount to future Mets success.

2. Carlos Beltran still has a few years left on his contract and is solidly entrenched in the Mets center field position.

3. The future of Nick Evans as a Met will be at first base, or no place.

4. Both Ryan Church and Martinez will compete for the 2010 right field position, and the last time I checked, neither look like a future candidate for either the home run or RBI leader of the league.

It seems to me that, if Murphy is for real, the Mets might consider putting F-Mart on the trading block (before he gets dinged again), finish the season with Church and Tatis in right, and go after a big bat come the off-season, for 2010’s RF.