Sharp Tongued Joe Strikes Again

Mets Today may just be a better, more insightful read than Mets Blog.

Janish brings out the snark on a Monday morning when reviewing past Mets’ roster strategies.

Filed under: Jersey Matt, Links, Joe Janish, Mets, Mets Today

Janish: Murph’s Blood on Mets’ Hands

Though I find myself regularly reading Matt Cerrone’s Mets Blog to keep myself up to date on the day to day happenings of my beloved Mets, I look forward to reading Joe Janish’s thoughtful commentary at Mets Today.

This morning, Joe has a post up about the season-ending (and possible career ending) injury to Daniel Murphy’s knee.

Janish opines:

Last year on this blog, I wrote about the Dan Murphy Myth. As a result of my “negativity” (I called it “realism”), many people thought I “didn’t like” Dan Murphy. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was merely being realistic about the kid’s skillset. To me, he was a so-so MLB hitter with no speed, below-average instincts, suspect strike zone judgment, slow feet in the field, and hard hands. I always felt his absolute ceiling was comparable to Mike Hargrove or Mark Grace, but more likely Matt Franco.

We may never know for sure whether Murphy had a chance to be Mark Grace, because his latest knee injury will have him out for the year — and potentially end his MLB career. The real shame, though, is that it didn’t have to happen this way.

Murphy’s original knee injury at the end of spring training was a freak accident; it could’ve happened to anyone. But his most recent MCL tear was avoidable.

Consistently, throughout Murphy’s rehab in extended spring training in Port St. Lucie, Mets management insisted that Murphy would only play first base. The reasoning was that the priority was his health. Once healthy, they might consider shuffling him around to be more versatile. This was the mantra while every baseball media outlet was suggesting that Murphy would soon become a “super utilityman”, and every commenting Mets fan was screaming for Murphy to replace Luis Castillo at 2B.

Read the rest here.

Filed under: Uncategorized, avoidable injuries, daniel murphy, Joe Janish, Mets, Mets Today, Omar M