Trea Turner and 3 more new rivals who will be pains in the NL East

3) NY Mets pitchers will grow sick of having to face Sean Murphy

Yet another trade and a guy with success either already in or about to enter his prime, we find a player on the Atlanta Braves who is brand new to the division. Catcher Sean Murphy joins an already stacked Braves lineup where he’ll share duties behind the plate with Travis d’Arnaud. This probably means when he isn’t catching there are opportunities for him to DH, too.

Murphy has a better reputation than resume. He’s only a lifetime .236/.326/.429 hitter. He did have 37 doubles and 18 home runs last year in Oakland. A transition to Atlanta could propel him further.

A surer problem Murphy will give the Mets is how he plays defense. He’s going to slow down any run game the Mets try to build. Last year, he threw out 31% of attempted base thieves. It’s better than the league average of 25%. It’s an upgrade over d’Arnaud who somehow did gun down 25% of would-be base thieves. Nobody knows better than Mets fans how easy it could be to steal against him.

Murphy is about to enter his prime. How high will the ceiling go? The Braves have already locked him up with an extension. He’s going to be here for a while. Let’s hope it’s not too painful.