Kuzul

When the New York Mets take the field for the first time in 2011, the one face fans don’t want to see is that of Luis Castillo. Castillo has been a black eye at second base since the Mets signed him to a four-year, $25 million deal in 2007.

He is due $6 million next season, so it’s hard to imagine the Mets would let him ride the bench all season and take up that money. The Mets could eat the contract, which is what the fans probably want, but that’s not the most financially responsible decision. If they’re going to spend that $6 million anyway, why not at least try to get something out of Castillo?

But GM Sandy Alderson said on Tuesday that there is a new name in the hat for second base—Daniel Murphy.

You remember Daniel Murphy, right?

He spent time at both first base and left field during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Before the start of the 2010 season, Murphy was slated to be the Mets’ Opening Day first baseman, but he injured his knee in a Spring Training game and after some unsuccessful experiments (remember Mike Jacobs?), the Mets eventually called up Ike Davis, and the rest is history.

Davis has now firmly entrenched himself at first base and the fans love him. Murphy needed a new home, so the Mets are trying to turn him into a second baseman.

Then on June 2, while playing second base for the Mets’ Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Murphy tore his MCL while trying to turn a double play. Though he didn’t require surgery, he was forced to miss 4-6 months.

Murphy is fully recovered from the injury now and is getting a lot of time at second base playing Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic—and he’s tearing it up.

Murphy is currently hitting .320 with four home runs and 22 RBIs in 103 at-bats.

Without a doubt, Murphy will be competing for the second base job come Spring Training. The only question is whether he’ll have to beat out Castillo or Ruben Tejada for the job.

Most likely it’s going to be Castillo. Although Tejada was a defensive wizard during his time in the bigs last season, he hit only .213 in 216 at-bats.

If the Mets wanted to have Tejada on the roster as a defensive replacement in late innings for Murphy, that’s fine. But then they’d have to decide what to do with Castillo, because they can’t carry all three, and Murphy has reportedly taken huge strides to improve his defense.

One scout who watched Murphy in the Dominican Republic said that he was”servicable.”

Honestly, I think Mets fans would take a “servicable” Daniel Murphy over Luis Castillo in a heartbeat.

Murphy has a huge advantage due to the fact that the Mets front office is down on Castillo and would love to get rid of him if they could find a team willing to swap bad contracts. Tejada can’t hit a lick, and the Mets don’t seem to have any plans to sign a second baseman this offseason.

Besides all that, the guy just plain deserves a chance to play. He was a disaster in left field for the Mets, but he went out there every day because they asked him to. When the Mets stuck Ike Davis at first base, Murphy chose to learn a new position, rather than stay a first baseman and pray for a chance.

When the Mets take the field for 2011, look for Daniel Murphy to make an impact—this time a positive impact, and this time, at second base.

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Amidst the pursuit for the next New York Mets manager, several on the field questions still plague the Mets in the coming months. Besides the evident issues facing the bullpen, the most pressing matter I see facing Alderson’s Mets is who will be manning the second base position next year.

I’ve gone through some possible options out there for the Mets next year, some internal and external, but none named Luis Castillo.

I got to tell you though; many of them are looking pretty promising. Let’s just hope these options look as good on the field as they do on paper.

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The New York Mets received bad news today on Daniel Murphy, finding that he will be lost for the season.

Daniel Murphy, who the Mets were prepping as a utility infielder in Triple-A Buffalo, suffered a “high-grade” tear of the cruciate ligament in his right knee, the team announced today.

Murphy was hurt while attempting to turn a double play.

The Mets say no surgery is required, but he is expected to be out four to six weeks.

With Luis Castillo undergoing tests for his injured foot today, The Mets should consider a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for Ty Wigginton.

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The New York Mets have reported that Daniel Murphy has a high grade MCL tear. Murphy is expected to miss the next four to six months. Murphy however will not need surgery.

This eliminates any chance that Murphy will be traded at the deadline for pitching help this year.

Having gone through a severe knee injury myself, I know that Murphy has a long road to recovery ahead of him. He will need to work hard in physical therapy to return to where he was.

Hopefully Murphy will be able to surprise us and recover quickly. He may be able to make it back in late September.

Murphy may be a candidate to be sent to the Arizona Fall League if he recovers in time.

I wish Daniel the best of luck and hope he has a speedy recovery.

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The Mets suffered a pretty brutal 18-6 loss last night to the San Diego Padres that drops their record to 26-26 and into a three way tie for last place behind the Phillies and the Braves.

Here are some other notes

Hisanori Takahashi had his first bad start: 4 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.

Oliver Perez ’s agent apparently told the Mets to put the pitcher on the DL so he could go to Florida and see a sports psychologist and the Mets declined.

Carlos Beltran supposedly expects to play in an extended spring training game within a week.

Daniel Murphy is playing second base tonight for Triple-A Buffalo—for the first time this year. With Ike Davis at first base Murphy should only be playing second base. I don’t understand why they waited so long to move him over there.

So the Mets could have found a way to at least temporarily rid themselves of Perez and they passed?

And as far as Beltran goes, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Like this post? Want the latest Mets news and rumors? Subscribe to Flushing Baseball Daily via RSS Reader, Email, Twitter, or Facebook. You can also follow this post’s author, Rob Abruzzese, on Twitter.

Related Stories:

May 26, 2010—Mets Notes: The Bullpen, Injuries, and Saturday’s Starter 

May 17, 2010—Takahashi To Make First Start of the Season

May 17, 2010—Jon Niese Left Game with Injury Scare

May 12, 2010—Mets Injury Updates: Beltran, Murphy, Igarashi

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Less than a year and a half ago, Mets fans were wondering if Daniel Murphy would be the permanent solution at first base after Carlos Delgado left. He had shown promise hitting .266 with 12 home runs and 63 RBI in his first full season.

First base is notoriously a source of power in any teams lineup. It did not appear that Murphy would be able to provide that power. Then, during spring training he was placed on the disabled list with a sprained right MCL.

Once again, the Mets had a hole at first base. The Mets opened their season with Mike Jacobs experiment. This failed mightily as Jacobs hit only .208 with one home run. He was platooning at first with Fernando Tatis.

Meanwhile, young Ike Davis was tearing apart Triple-A. He posted a .364 batting average and .500 on-base percentage. Ike was proving that he belonged in the major leagues.

Then, on April 19, the Mets made one of their best decisions of the year. The Mets called up Ike Davis.

Davis had found success in the majors at the young age of 23. He is hitting .290 and has four home runs in 107 at-bats. What is even more impressive is that Davis has hit three of his home runs in the cavernous Citi Field. This is the same amount as perennial 30 home run hitter Jason Bay.

Can we expect this type of power out of Davis for years to come? One would think so as Davis managed to hit 20 home runs in the minors last season in only 429 at bats. Davis also hit 16 home runs in just 213 at bats in his last season in college at Arizona State.

Clearly the Mets also expect Davis to be a source of power as he has been moved to the cleanup spot in the lineup. The Mets expect to give Davis many RBI opportunities with Jose Reyes and Jason Bay batting ahead of him. The Mets are also giving Davis protection by slotting David Wright into the five hole in the batting order.

The Mets have given Ike a tremendous vote of confidence by making this move. They are showing him that they believe he will be one of their main run producers now and in the future. I think this will only help improve Ike’s game.

I know that it is a small sample size, but Davis is hitting .368 in 19 at bats from the cleanup spot. He has also scored five runs from the four hole. While he cannot be expected to maintain these numbers over the course of a full season, it would not be surprising to see him hit over .300 considering who is surrounding him in the lineup.

Davis appears to have joined the core of the Mets. He can be mentioned among Wright, Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana as a player to build around. This is an incredible feat for someone who is so young.

With Davis’ early success and Carlos Beltran impending return, the Mets still have a shot at the playoffs this year. They would not have had this opportunity with Murphy starting at first base. There would have been a big offensive hole at first base with Murphy in the lineup.

Davis has the potential to be the next great Mets first baseman. He could be a combination of the power of Carlos Delgado with the defense of Keith Hernandez.

Ike Davis is part of the future of the New York Mets, and the future is now.

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Last week, Kieran Darcy of ESPN New York said the Mets plan to have Murphy play a variety of positions at Triple-A to make him more versatile. Daniel Murphy’s rehabilitation assignment has ended in Port St. Lucie, and they optioned him to Triple-A Buffalo. Murphy was placed on the disable list during the final week of Spring Training, and spent almost two months rehabilitating the injury.

With Luis Castillo recovering from a bone bruise in left foot, the Mets could look at Murphy’s for second base. He was a third baseman in the minors. Murphy’s bat would be big plus to the Mets lineup. Daniel Murphy look more like a middle infielder than an outfielder or first baseman. The Mets bench would be stronger with Murphy’s there.

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The Mets beat writers all had posts about Daniel Murphy recovering from his strained knee ligament in Florida, then going to Triple-A Buffalo when he comes off the disabled list. The plan is for Muphy to play first base immediately just to get some at-bats. Then they’re going to work with him on becoming a utility player.

The odd thing is that you don’t see many 25-year-old utility players out there. It’s usually older players that have been around for a while doing that job.

I wouldn’t be happy about it if I was Murphy. That really cuts into his earning potential. Utility players are typically the lowest paid players on a team. His long-term earning potential in the Major Leagues is cut significantly by being pigeon-holed as a utility player. I’m sure he seems himself differently than the Mets organization does.

If Murphy comes back to the bigs after transforming himself into a utility player, who’s roster spot is he going to take? Frank Catalanotto and Fernando Tatis would be the obvious players to go. They’ve both been rotting on the Mets bench in April. Catalanotto has 20 at-bats this season and Tatis has 29.

Does anyone really think he can play anywhere in the field other than first base? We’ve all seen what he can do in the field. He was an utter disaster in left field in 2009. And that’s putting it mildly. Expecting him to become a utility infielder that can hold his own in the field anywhere other than first is ridiculous.

This is the plan for a 25-year-old? Leave him rotting on the Mets bench. I really question this strategy. Frankly, I just don’t see a role for Murphy on this team. I think the Mets are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It’s not going to work.

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It looks like we have an answer to the question I asked yesterday , at least a temporary one. According to Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger , the Mets will send Daniel Murphy to Triple-A Buffalo once he is healthy enough to return.

Here’s more from Costa:

The Mets plan to send Murphy, 24, to Buffalo for two reasons. From an offensive standpoint, they think it would be better for his development to get regular at-bats, which isn’t likely to happen in the majors. And defensively, the Mets want Murphy to play multiple positions, including first base, second base and left field.

Part of the thinking is that greater defensive versatility would increase his trade value, but it would also make him more valuable to the organization if he isn’t traded.

Thoughts: I don’t like the fact that Murphy will be in the minor leagues while worse hitters get to keep their spots on the active roster, but I do actually like the Mets thinking here. Murphy is still a young player and he needs at bats to continue to improve. So yes, having him in the minors, at least for the time being, might be better in the long run.

Also, they have a plan to use him as a super-utility type where he would play first, second, and left field. Breaking him in as that type of a player at the major league level could get ugly defensively so starting him in the minors makes sense.

The only problem I would have with this plan is if Vazquez isn’t promoted to the major leagues after a couple of weeks to a month. This plan is a good one, but you don’t want to see Murphy get buried especially since he’s probably better offensively than Gary Matthews Jr., Frank Catalanotto, Luis Castillo, and probably one or two other guys.

What are your thoughts? Are the Mets making the right move here?

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