Mets Spring Training Question 11: Infield Wheels
With 11 days before pitchers and Molinas report, let’s quickly examine the #11 question to be answered during Mets spring training: how will the wheels of the right side of the infield heal?
As you know, both Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy — the two men expected to man the right side of the infield for the Mets in 2012 — are coming off serious leg injuries. It’s easy to just assume that a season-ending stint on the DL coupled with a long winter layoff will result in 100% health, but that’s not always the case. Some injuries — particularly serious ones — can linger for a year or more.
The players, their agents, and the Mets officials can talk all they want about their injuries being completely healed, but we won’t know for sure until they get on the field in Port St. Lucie. I have no doubt that both Daniel and Ike will be able to suit up, field grounders, and take BP — but, I don’t know whether their injuries will affect their running, hitting mechanics, or mobility / range in the infield. That last factor in particular could be the most important — if both players have limited range as a result of last season’s injuries, how many balls will get through the right side of the infield?
What do you think? Is this a valid concern? Are you more concerned about another aspect of their game being affected? Post your concerns — or lack of — in the comments.
You raise a very valid concern. Injuries to the feet, ankles & knees take awhile to recover from fully. A player’s lateral movement is often most affected by injuries to the lower extremities.
More concerned about the ability of Murphy’s knees to withstand the rigors of 2nd base than Ike’s heel tolerating 1st. Wish Murphy tooled up as a catcher earlier in his career. Oh well…
One internal solution is to put Murphy at third, his best position, and to move Wright to left & Bay to right. One of Wright’s strengths is his ability to retreat and track pop-ups & short flies. Think he could transition well. Bay has very respectable range.
Turner & Havens could platoon at 2nd. Package Duda in trade with Colorado for catching prospect Wilin Rosario.
Just a few thoughts to address a legitimate concern that you raised.
The main point that you guys have been making is that Murphy’s legs are too injury prone for the physical demands of 2B. He may never be a stellar glove, but is probably safer at 3B.
Since the Mets are hoping for a rejuvenated Wright so they can move him for young (cheaper) players, why not try the experiment in ST and have them move to the new positions?
Duda in RF is a shaky prospect at best, so trading him is a good idea since he’s not going to beat out Davis at 1B.
Yeah I know Wright hasn’t been exactly stellar on defense the last few years but he has proven that he CAN BE good with the glove, whereas Murphy has only proven he can’t. And even Wright at his worst on defense is still better than Murphy at his best.
His defense is really not that bad when you talk about allowing runs to score though. Honestly over the past few years Murphy probably is a better defender at 3B than Wright.
As to Norm, I don’t know enough about Duda in RT to just give up on him there & still want to see more of him before thinking he isn’t in the team’s long term plans. It will take more than a ST to convert DW to an outfielder, which seems real iffy anyways. It is not like he can’t play 3B any more.