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Daniel Murphy To DL Was the Last Thing the New York Mets Could Afford

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Daniel Murphy New York Mets Shortstop Trade

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Somehow, some way, the New York Mets have managed to stay competitive over the last six weeks and remain just half a game out of first place in the NL East. Despite injuries to David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud, who were both off to fast starts this season, as well as a slew of absences in the bullpen, the Mets have found a way to win enough games to remain above .500 and in contention in both the division and wild card standings. A big reason for this has been the play of Daniel Murphy, who shook off a terrible April and went on to hit .330/.378/.417 in May, with even better numbers in the first few days of June.

Murphy’s hot hitting throughout the month of May and into June played a huge role in the Mets’ offense, scoring enough runs to support their outstanding starting rotation. He had even moved into the cleanup spot in the order, a role in which he really started to excel. That is, until Murphy became the latest member of the Mets to fall victim to the injury bug Thursday night. With Murphy being the team’s offensive MVP over the past month, he was the last player the Mets could afford to lose to the DL, outside of those that are already on the DL.

The timing of the injury couldn’t be much worse, as the Mets recently moved Murphy back to third base to fill in for Wright, who they don’t expect back anytime soon. New York’s game of musical chairs in their infield finally seemed to be stopping, with Murphy back at third base and Ruben Tejada at second base after his shocking re-emergence over the last two weeks. The Mets will replace Murphy with Eric Campbell, who recently broke out of an 0 for 28 skid and is hitting .174 this season. The team may once again alter their infield lineup if either Campbell or Tejada struggle, or if they chose to re-insert Dilson Herrera at second base once he returns from injury, although he has hit just .235 in the big leagues this season.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that d’Arnaud should be ready to return to the Mets soon, giving the team a boost in the middle of their lineup. However, the return of d’Arnaud is largely offset by the absence of Murphy. Getting one key offensive player back doesn’t mean much for the Mets if they simultaneously lose another. Even with the impending return of d’Arnaud, and possibly Herrera, the loss of Murphy for at least two weeks will be a tough pill to swallow for the Mets. Unless they can get increased production from several other sources over the next few weeks, the Mets may not be able to survive Murphy going to the DL.

Bryan Zarpentine is a New York Mets writer at www.RantSports.com.  Like him on Facebook, follow him on twitter @BZarp and add him on Google.

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