via Newsday
“Murphy is going to be a very, very good player. There’s going to be a process where the experience comes into play and there are certain things that show up in a game where you can’t teach and you just can’t practice.”
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“The only other place Murphy could go is second,” Collins said. “That means Justin [Turner] has to come out of the lineup. When Carlos [Beltran] was traded, we pretty much said Lucas was going to get the reps in rightfield, so I’m going to stand with that.”
I’m fine with Duda getting a chance to play every day in RF. However, with 2B the only position open in the future for Murphy, you have to let him play 30-45 games there to see if he can handle it. Maybe when the team is double digits back in the Wildcard they will concede reality that they are not going to the postseason and use what remains of 2011 to plan for the future. They can do the same thing when Nick Evans returns to replace Mike Nickeas on the roster. See if he can hit if he plays 30-45 games out of what remains.
I guess we let the weekend series with Atlanta play out, but unless the Mets sweep we should be shifting focus to 2012. We’ve seen Justin Turner & he looks like a utility guy to me. Murph can’t handle shifting positions all the time, so let’s see how he does at second base if he plays there every day over the last 6+ weeks.
If he flops, at least we know. If he succeeds, second base isn’t a position to worry about next year.