New York Mets should reunite with old friend Daniel Murphy

At the end of the season, Daniel Murphy will be a free agent once again. Is it time for Murphy to be reunited with the Mets?

Shortly after Daniel Murphy’s incredible post-season streak, he signed a three-year, $37.5 million deal with the Washington Nationals. That contract is going to be over soon, and If the New York Mets are smart, they would look into bringing back the All-star second baseman.

During his Mets tenure, he was actually really close to franchise records for the position. His 62 home runs, 57 stolen bases, and 20 triples were all second best among all Mets second basemen.

He racked up 967 hits, 422 runs scored, 228 doubles, and 402 RBI’s, which all lead the position. His 228 doubles are more than twice as much as the next most, which was 111 from Felix Millan. Only Jose Reyes and David Wright have more doubles than him.

Murphy went on to have even better seasons with the Nationals. He broke his career bests for runs scored, doubles, home runs, RBI, and batting average. He also won two Silver Slugger awards and finished second in MVP voting in 2016.

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As of May 12th, 2018, Murphy has yet to play a game and doesn’t look like he will any time soon.

Currently, the odds are pretty low that the Nationals will be able to offer Murphy a new contract next season. This is because pretty much every Nationals player is getting a huge boost to their salaries next season.

This season, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer each have a base salary of 15 million dollars. This does not count deferments or incentives. Next season, Scherzer’s base salary will be 30 million while Strasburg’s will be 35 million.

Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Zimmerman will each be getting a raise of at least four million dollars as well. This will not bode well if the Nationals want to offer new contracts. Not to mention any attempt at retaining Bryce Harper should kill any chances of retaining Murphy.

Why didn’t the Mets just re-sign Murphy in 2015? It looks as if the Mets not only didn’t believe in his post-season success continuing, but they also didn’t like the price.

The Mets traded Jon Niese to the Pirates for Neil Walker on December 9^th, 2015. When the Mets filled in their second base need, Murphy was still available. He didn’t sign with the Nationals until December 24^th, two weeks later.

It’s not like Murphy chose to leave New York and then the Mets were forced to search for someone else. The Mets chose not to go after Murphy’s price tag and instead went after the cheaper option.

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Would it be a good move for the Mets to bring him back? How much would a contract be worth? With a combination of how he’s been playing and his injury, a reasonable price for Murphy might be around five years-80 million dollars.