Mets Merized Online | I Don’t See Murphy As Part Of The Future Plan

Joe DeCaro of Mets Merized Online has an interesting post about Daniel Murphy's value to the Mets versus his value elsewhere.

There is no question that Murphy is a pure hitter in the Wade Boggs mold. Personally, I think the Mets are holding on to Murphy for now because his trade value is low from the knee injury and from whether or not he can play 2B. However, if either Reese Havens or Jordany Valdespin starts hitting the cover off the ball in Buffalo, you will likely see one of them get a call-up and see Murphy relegated to the bench. You can then start to wonder if he's trade bait from the number of spot starts he gets in David Wright's place at 3B.

Joe mentions Murphy's natural position being 3B. Which leads me to wonder if by July 15th:

- Reese Havens is healthy and playing well at Triple-A, matching or exceeding his average Double-A slash line of .301 AVG/.379 OBP/.505 SLG.
- Daniel Murphy is matching or exceeding his average MLB career slash line of .292/.343/.441.
- David Wright is matching or exceeding his average MLB career slash line of .300/.380/.508.
- The Mets are in last place 20 or more games behind the division leader and 10 or more games behind the 2nd Wild Card team.

If these things are happening in July 2012, would the Mets be better off trading Wright for the prospect haul, thereby moving Murphy to his natural position of 3B and giving 2B to Reese Havens? Something to think about if you're a Met fan looking towards the future.

New York Mets 2012 Top 15 Prospects | Bullpen Banter

The guys at Bullpen Banter are working their way through the top 15 prospects of every Major League Baseball team and made their way to the New York Mets today. Here are their top 15 lists:

1 Matt Harvey / Matt Harvey
2 Zack Wheeler / Zack Wheeler
3 Brandon Nimmo / Brandon Nimmo
4 Jenrry Mejia / Jeurys Familia
5 Reese Havens / Jenrry Mejia
6 Cesar Puello / Michael Fulmer
7 Jeurys Familia / Reese Havens
8 Michael Fulmer / Cesar Puello
9 Kirk Nieuwenhuis / Juan Urbina
10 Juan Urbina / Kirk Nieuwenhuis
11 Jordany Valdespin / Domingo Tapia
12 Domingo Tapia / Cory Mazzoni
13 Wilmer Flores / Bradley Marquez
14 Cory Mazzoni / Jordany Valdespin
15 Akeel Morris / Wilmer Flores

While I'm not surprised by Harvey, Wheeler, and Nimmo being the top three, I'm surprised both writers have Havens so high, which I agree with, and Tapia and Mazzoni in the top 15, which I do not agree with.

An interesting list nonetheless and yet another opinion on the Mets future stars. What's more telling is the two top draft picks of 2011 and a 2011 trade acquisition are in the top ten and occupy #'s 2 and 3 on these lists, giving you a good idea of how depleted the system was prior to the arrival of Alderson and Company.