Mets Morning News: Murphy And Duda Are Corner Infielders, Ignoring OffField Distractions, & Pitching Prospects

Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes that Mets officials believe Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda are best suited as corner infielders.

"The Mets also privately fret if Davis will hit lefties consistently; something they have far less concern about with Duda. What worries them with Duda is if he will subtract from his offensive value — which even executives around the league believe is legit — by being such a defensive liability in right. Murphy, meanwhile, has been seriously injured each of the past two seasons turning pivots at second.

Thus, the Mets want to verify their beliefs that Duda and Murphy are above-average hitters. If so, they will at least have the option to consider dealing Wright and/or Davis to continue to deepen the young talent base."

Terry Collins sat down with The Star-Ledger to discuss the 2012 season. He won't let his players feel sorry for themselves or be distracted with off the field issues.

"You know what? Jose’s not here...The first time I hear someone say, 'Oh, Jose would have caught that ball,' we've got problems...So our payroll’s down...How many guys here care what our payroll is?"

David Lennon of Newsday writes of how the trio of Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, and Zack Wheeler shouldn't be labeled the next Generation K. Also, don't expect to see any of them called up before their time.

"The temptation with those three guys doesn't really exist at the moment," [Sandy] Alderson said. "Obviously, when you bring somebody up -- whenever you do -- they still have to perform. So on the one hand, you're tempted to bring somebody up to fill innings, but on the other hand, they better be ready. Because if they're not, there are obviously consequences to that, too."

2012 New York Mets Player Profile: Daniel Murphy

Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com

2011 season was both an outstanding year and a terrible year for Daniel Murphy.

On one hand, he was on his way to having one of the five best batting averages National League. On the other hand, it was yet another season ended early because of injury.

At the end of the day it was another year that left us wondering, just who is Daniel Murphy?

Is he the guy from 2011? A .320 hitter capable of producing anywhere in the Mets lineup. Or is he the .266 hitter from 2009? A player without a home defensively, relegated to a super utility role or a platoon DH for another team.

These are important questions for Murphy to answer heading into 2012. This could be his last chance to establish himself as an everyday second baseman for the Mets because for the first time in a long time, the Mets have minor league depth in Jordany Valdespin and Reese Havens that will be Major League ready come 2013.

2011 was Murphy's best season as a ball player. Being able to play every day was great for his game, as his numbers and comfort level improved every month as the season progressed.

Let’s not forget, Murphy is still a young, developing player.

Caption This, Mets Fans

Many Mets players have already made the trek down to Florida to begin their workouts. Here is a photo the Mets posted on their Twitter account of Daniel Murphy receiving some infield instruction from Terry Collins and Tim Teufel:



A few thoughts went through my head when I saw this picture. How would you caption this?

Mets Kids Holiday Party

The Mets hosted 100 kids from public schools all across Queens at Citi Field on Tuesday for their annual Kids Holiday Party. Daniel Murphy played the role of Santa this year, and with the help of his "elves," Jon Niese and Justin Turner, he delivered toys to all in attendance.

Santa and his elves.

While all of the kids finished their lunch and participated in performances, all of the beat writers and bloggers were hidden behind a curtain. All was relatively calm until the screaming started. That was our cue that Santa had arrived.

Between the kids and the Christmas music blasting, I couldn't hear a thing. Luckily, my recorder was able to pick up audio. Here's a little summary from interviews with Niese and general manager Sandy Alderson.

Jon Niese

• His goal is to get over 200 innings this year.

• The new additions to bullpen are good. They filled holes where they needed to be filled.

• Facing Jose Reyes: "It's gonna be fun...I can't wait. Watching him hit for a while, hopefully I picked up something to get him out."

• The changes at Citi Field are good. It will give hitters peace of mind and pitchers more confidence. The changes will not cause him to change his approach on the mound.

Sandy Alderson

• Changes to the field: "More scoring makes more sense...it's more entertaining. Even a purist wouldn't want 1-0 games every night."

• Losing Jose Reyes: "Criticism that we never made an offer... what's interesting about that is that from the very outset we didn't want to make an offer that would be shot...and I don't think it's a coincidence that the price went way up from the time on Friday that I described a conceptual puzzle to Saturday to Sunday morning when the apparent offer from Miami went from point a to point z...I don't think we had a shot at signing Jose if we had made the first offer."

• Bullpen: "All three additions are an upgrade...better shot at more consistency in 7th, 8th, and 9th innings...What was once a weakness is now a modest strength for us."

• Catchers: "We don't have a lot of depth in the system...for the time being our catching situation is going to be a year to year proposition" The team looked at some free agents decided none worth additional expense. "Given the resources we have available, we'd rather spend the money some place else on more significant upgrades...We're aware of catching situation within organization."

• Angel Pagan trade: The Giants were interested in Pagan. He believes Andres Torres was going to be a possible non-tender candidate and the Mets were in a similar position with Pagan.

I would have added video of the Alderson interview, but after watching it, it was a  little too Blair Witch Project for me. I took a peak at the outfield walls while I was there and to be honest, I didn't notice anything worth reporting as of yet. Stay tuned.