Daniel Murphy completes full-season ownership of the Mets
When they made him a qualifying offer last fall, the New York Mets may have also granted Daniel Murphy an ownership stake in the team.
The New York Mets made only a half-hearted effort to re-sign Daniel Murphy, last fall’s postseason hero.
Their primary target was Ben Zobrist. Then, they moved onto Neil Walker. Murphy languished on the free-agent market for a few weeks, before ultimately signing with the Washington Nationals.
For a guy who seems to be fairly easy going, Murphy has sure been taking things out on the Mets this year. Entering this afternoon’s game, he had gotten a hit in every single game against them this year — all 18 of them.
#Nats Daniel Murphy has hit in ALL 18 games vs NYM in '16 – longest single-season streak vs previous-year club ever. pic.twitter.com/WkIUtkZrpa
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 14, 2016
It only took one at-bat for Murphy to complete his full-season hitting streak against the Mets. The second baseman singled with two outs in the bottom of the first off Robert Gsellman. Murphy would also draw a walk later in the game. The Nationals won the game 1-0 on a Wilson Ramos home run.
On the year, Murphy batted .413/.444/.773 against Mets’ pitching with six doubles, seven home runs, and 21 RBIs. He currently leads the National League in batting average, hits, doubles, slugging percentage and OPS. Murphy burst onto the scene last October, when he hit seven home runs in the postseason, an unheard of power surge for a player who had never hit more than 14 home runs in a single season.
The Mets obviously wrote Murphy’s postseason off as an anomaly, and made little effort to make him a long-term offer. Entering this season, there was little reason to believe Murphy would continue hitting like Babe Ruth for a full 162-game slate. He had slugged only .424 in his first seven big-league seasons, and his defensive skills make him a liability at second base.
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The Nationals only signed Murphy after their own pursuit of Zobrist failed and Brandon Phillips refused to waive his no-trade clause to go there. If Murphy was a third option, the Nationals’ only source of disappointment should be that they did not attempt to sign him to a longer deal. No one could have envisioned Daniel Murphy sustaining this type of power and production for a full season.