Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Contemplating Daniel Murphy

Daniel Murphy, second baseman for the New York Mets, certainly picked a great time to do his Babe Ruth impersonation. Murphy has hit six homers in 12 days, including long balls off Zach Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta. Quite the performance.

In 2012, he had more than 600 plate appearances and hit six homers all year. And now this -- propelling the Mets to the brink of the World Series and propelling himself into free agency on a high note.

Every day seems to bring higher speculation about how much Murphy will get this winter. And the skeptic in me whispers: Don't be so sure. George Steinbrenner is dead, and front offices are smarter than they were a decade ago.

Murphy is a good hitter for a second baseman, and a below average fielder. The combination makes him, over time, a marginal regular. And he's 30 now, set for his decline phase.

It's irrational to believe October 2015 overrides his first seven years as a measure of his ability. Maybe there is still a greater fool out there who will pay him on the basis of this postseason, but I doubt it.

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