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Muffy

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 13 2012 11:26 AM

A bunch of douchebags participated in a survey on Muffy. I was surprised I came out as strongly as I did on this topic but it looks pretty obvious if things continue as they have so far. What do you think of Muffy the second baseman this year?

metirish Jun 13 2012 11:30 AM Re: Muffy

He has been I guess what I thought he would be ,ordinary playing the position. I would say I am surprised with his hitting, or lack of any power at all.

TransMonk Jun 13 2012 11:33 AM Re: Muffy

I wasn't expecting much from him at second, so I'm not disappointed. I'm more concerned about his lack of offense and the face that he is hitting 5th in the lineup most nights. I know a lot of that has to do with Bay and Davis, but it just shows what the team is lacking as a whole. His second base work would look a lot better to me if he had 5 HRs.

Ceetar Jun 13 2012 11:38 AM Re: Muffy

Right when I thought he was about to start getting hot and maybe running into one or two he went into a slump and now looks particularly ordinary. He's a big part of why they're slumping right now. His defense is probably right where I expected it. He plays (clearly just what my eyes are seeing here) maybe 6 games okay, 1 game he plays really well, 1 game he makes a small blunder or miscue, and 1 game is a disaster out of every 10. If this is 'rock bottom' for his hitting, than he's fine. If he's going to hover around this level, he's probably a liability.

Edgy MD Jun 13 2012 11:43 AM Re: Muffy

His defense is neither a best-case nor a worst-case scenario, which I think we all could live with if he's doing his job with the bat. On that score, is rate stats are close to normal with the glaring exception of his slugging being down 100 points. It sometimes happens that while someone is forced to make an adjustment in one part of their game, they fail to make adjustments in others. Sucks, but considering that we're on our fourth shortstop, it's something we have to grind along with. And that's really what's to love about Murphy, I think. Total grinder. Like he stays with a groundball he mishandles, and sometimes makes the play anyhow, he stays with his career vicissitudes through a lot of bumps and fumbles too. I think he may yet make something out of this season. But he could lose some time to Valdy and Q-Tip if and when Tejada and Cedeño come back.

Vic Sage Jun 13 2012 01:37 PM Re: Muffy

Regardless of expectations (which are entirely subjective), a 2bman with a 91 OPS+ and below average defense is not a player that a team (or its fanbase) should be happy, or even satisfied, with. The only regular 2bmen in the NL with a lower OPS than Murphy's current .684 is Galvis (.617) who is only playing in Philly because of Utley's injury, and Weeks (.598), who is having a disastrous year in Milwaukee, but who was a 1st round pick (#2 overall), and who, after showing early promise, had a breakout year in 2010, and a decent 2011, buying himself more time to fail this year. Unless Muffy starts showing some pop -- and soon! -- i'd say he's utterly replaceable. Until then, he's showing me that he is what i always thought he was -- a useful super-sub, out of position as a starter.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 13 2012 01:44 PM Re: Muffy

Vic Sage is, as often, correct. I have to say I wasn't prepared to say dump Muffy when the question was asked but by most defensive measures he's the worst fielding 2Bman in the league and with his extra-base power all but vanished he's suddenly extremely replaceable. People forget he played with his head up his ass for almost all of 2009, never coming out of a slump, but even then he mixed in a decent amount of homers.

Lefty Specialist Jun 13 2012 01:48 PM Re: Muffy

Well, defensively, he's a liability (but we knew this going in). He plays too deep and isn't good at turning double plays. I've never seen a second baseman who plays like a short fielder in softball. It compensates for his lack of range but you get the feeling there'd be plays he doesn't make that a regular second baseman would- and that don't officially get categorized as errors. Then, of course, there are the actual errors, which seem to be creeping up in frequency. All of which would be acceptable if he was hitting with some authority, which he's not. I love his attitude, but I think that attitude is a detriment when he gets into a slump. He's pressing right now, and he looks like he's taking it into the field with him.

Vic Sage Jun 13 2012 01:55 PM Re: Muffy

what do we think is the cause of Murphy's loss of pop... is it: * An undisclosed injury? * A different offensive approach? * A lack of focus due to defensive position change? * A random statistical anomaly? * He's off the`roids? * Other?__________________

batmagadanleadoff Jun 13 2012 02:06 PM Re: Muffy

NL second-basemen, min 150 PA's. It's Murph's power outage that's dropped him to the bottom of the pack, hitting-wise. Murph's other offensive numbers are satisfactory, at least relative to his peers.

batmagadanleadoff Jun 13 2012 02:20 PM Re: Muffy

batmagadanleadoff wrote: NL second-basemen, min 150 PA's. It's Murph's power outage that's dropped him to the bottom of the pack, hitting-wise. Murph's other offensive numbers are satisfactory, at least relative to his peers. I realize Murph-E's slumping with the bat, but NL second baseman are tightly packed, hitting wise. An increase in OPS of .050 would slot Murphy closer to the hitting leaders at the position, and .050 worth of OPS ain't that much. If he were to get hot, he could be there in three or four games.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 13 2012 02:26 PM Re: Muffy

I'm not exactly sure how much exactly, but he's got to be better than average offensively if we're gonna have his glove around. Maybe in a scenario where all the other middle infielders aren't hurt we could take some pressure off by providing him a late-inning upgrade. Anyway, it seems that Valdespin can hit a little also.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jun 13 2012 03:11 PM Re: Muffy

Ceetar wrote: If this is 'rock bottom' for his hitting, than he's fine. If he's going to hover around this level, he's probably a liability. Mmmmyep. If he can hit better than, say, Mark Ellis or the corpse of Brandon Phillips, he'll be a net asset. But as to Valdespin... you know he's not outperforming Murphy with the bat right now, right (and may not, ever)? And I doubt seriously any of you will like his glove better.

Vic Sage Jun 13 2012 03:17 PM Re: Muffy

Vic Sage wrote: what do we think is the cause of Murphy's loss of pop... is it: * An undisclosed injury? * A different offensive approach? * A lack of focus due to defensive position change? * A random statistical anomaly? * He's off the`roids? * Other?__________________

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 13 2012 03:24 PM Re: Muffy

Yeah, Valdespin has a whole different set of flaws than Muffy does, but he seems to have some talent too, he hits the ball pretty hard and I'm not convinced he's done getting better. Are we really sure in one way or another about his glove? I can't imagine he'd be any worse than Muffy at 2B, seeing as Muffy is about as bad as you can tolerate an everyday middle infielder of being.

Ashie62 Jun 13 2012 03:40 PM Re: Muffy

Muffy has done all that has been asked, even with the ocasionnal defensive lapse..ZERO POWER Valdespin at 2b eventually.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jun 13 2012 03:54 PM Re: Muffy

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Are we really sure in one way or another about his glove? I can't imagine he'd be any worse than Muffy at 2B, seeing as Muffy is about as bad as you can tolerate an everyday middle infielder of being. 35 errors in 549 chances/~1000 innings. (For perspective: butterfingered O's 3Bman Mark Reynolds had 26 in about the same amount of playing time last season.)

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 13 2012 05:23 PM Re: Muffy

I'm less concerned with the number of errors with a youngster than with whether he can handle the demands otherwise, that's the unknown for me. More to the point I was not arguing that Valdy is necessarily the next longterm tenant at 2B, but might make sense as Muffys sucessor should Muffy continue the season he's having.

Edgy MD Jun 13 2012 08:08 PM Re: Muffy

In my suspicious mind, I envision a combo of factors. [list][*] An undisclosed injury? 4%[/*:m] [*] A different offensive approach? 21%[/*:m] [*] A lack of focus due to defensive position change? 15%[/*:m] [*] A random statistical anomaly? 27%[/*:m] [*] He's off the`roids? 0%[/*:m] [*] Other? He's executing poorly 33%[/*:m][/list:u] I feel like this isn't something fans should ring their hands over as options are thin. They're taking the field nightly with one backup infielder as it is. I think they'll ride him as long as they can and if he survives the season, reassess. But I think we knew all along the job was his until somebody takes it from him, and nobody was committing to him at second long-term.

Frayed Knot Jun 13 2012 08:20 PM Re: Muffy

Earlier in the season when his BA was higher and he was ringing 2Bs all over the park the HR outage seemed more like a statistical quirk. More recently though (like for the last month or more) his swing seems designed more to NOT strike-out than anything resembling an attempt to drive the ball. Even his slicing double tonight was a middle-in pitch where a more aggressive approach and swing pulls it with authority. Now maybe he didn't see that particular pitch well and in fact did well to just fight it off the other way with good results, but it seems that stuff like that has been happening too often lately to the point where it's got to be intentional to a degree.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 04 2012 10:05 AM Re: Muffy

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: NL second-basemen, min 150 PA's. It's Murph's power outage that's dropped him to the bottom of the pack, hitting-wise. Murph's other offensive numbers are satisfactory, at least relative to his peers. I realize Murph-E's slumping with the bat, but NL second baseman are tightly packed, hitting wise. An increase in OPS of .050 would slot Murphy closer to the hitting leaders at the position, and .050 worth of OPS ain't that much. If he were to get hot, he could be there in three or four games. "Crisis" over?

Edgy MD Jul 04 2012 10:41 AM Re: Muffy

Well, it's certainly taken a turn for the better, although you're sorting by OPS in the first table and by batting average in the second.

Vic Sage Jul 05 2012 08:31 AM Re: Muffy

His recent power surge has moved him up to the middle of the pack based on OPS; his defense is still bottom-of-the-barrel. I hope they use his recent productivity as an opportunity to sell high.

Edgy MD Jul 05 2012 08:49 AM Re: Muffy

I hope they take the opportunity to win a lot of games.

Ceetar Jul 05 2012 08:51 AM Re: Muffy

Edgy DC wrote: I hope they take the opportunity to win a lot of games. and I hope they do it for 4 more months.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 06 2012 01:52 PM Re: Muffy

Edgy DC wrote: Well, it's certainly taken a turn for the better, although you're sorting by OPS in the first table and by batting average in the second. Vic Sage wrote: His recent power surge has moved him up to the middle of the pack based on OPS; his defense is still bottom-of-the-barrel. I hope they use his recent productivity as an opportunity to sell high. NL 2B-men are packed pretty tight, offensively, this seeason. There's not much separation among those at or near the middle of the curve. There's no doubt that Murph's a flawed player. Moreover, his power's still down and his lefty/righty splits are increasingly widening to the point that he might be best used primarily as a platoon player. But I just didn't think that his recent batting slump, as bad as it was, rose to Cassandra crisis levels.

Edgy MD Jul 06 2012 02:05 PM Re: Muffy

Cassandra crisis. Certainly not. He certainly meets the good-enough-to-play-until-the-better-choice-appears standard, and if a guy can do that without a veteran contract attached to him, I can't see cause to complain. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah, Valdespin has a whole different set of flaws than Muffy does, but he seems to have some talent too, he hits the ball pretty hard and I'm not convinced he's done getting better. Are we really sure in one way or another about his glove? I can't imagine he'd be any worse than Muffy at 2B, seeing as Muffy is about as bad as you can tolerate an everyday middle infielder of being. Speaking as someone following him with the love of a parent, the kid's made a lot of minor league errors. Edgy DC wrote: I hope they take the opportunity to win a lot of games. Like last night. Yowza.

G-Fafif Jul 06 2012 03:07 PM Re: Muffy

Amazin'ly true to the orange and blue Murph is. he’ll identify a young kid in the stands who is not wearing a Mets hat. He’ll ask if he or she likes the hat they’re wearing. Then he’ll sign his Mets hat and give it to the kid, but he’ll also take the kid’s hat with him when heading back toward the field.

Edgy MD Jul 06 2012 08:34 PM Re: Muffy

From a recent Sacramento Bee interview. Q: What was your favorite baseball team as a kid? A: The Atlanta Braves. They were on the TV all the time; I grew up in Jacksonville, so they were always on TBS. So it was kind of an easy choice to follow the Braves. Q: Is it awkward now that they're your rival? A: Oh, I don't like them anymore.