The New York Daily News reported Wednesday that the Mets wanted Dylan Bundy from the Orioles for second baseman Daniel Murphy. This offers further evidence that the Mets GM may be insane.
Sandy Alderson, the general manager of the Mets, may be an actual crazy person. This is one conclusion to draw from his behavior in trade talks. Back in December, there were reports that the Mets and O's were talking about a trade involving first baseman Ike Davis and the Mets wanted Eduardo Rodriguez.
That's absurd, but the biggest surprise is that wasn't even the most absurd trade demand the Mets made of the O's this offseason. Buried in an article about Daniel Murphy in the New York Daily News is the tidbit that the Mets tried to trade Murphy and asked for Dylan Bundy. (Hat tip to MLBTR for flagging the story.) This revelation comes a sentence after Mets beat writer Andy Martino observes that Murphy didn't fit in with the Mets offensive philosophy, which stresses on-base percentage.
Apparently, the Mets don't buy into their own philosophy; they had a .306 team on-base percentage last season. The NL average was a .315. In fairness, perhaps that's why they were looking to trade a player like Murphy, though if they were really asking for Bundy, that seems to suggest they weren't trying very hard to trade him. Maybe they thought the OBP-challenged Orioles would like another guy with that kind of lack of skill?
Murphy, who will be 29 on April 1, is someone who would have probably fit into the O's second base competition if the trade price was reasonable. Over the last two years, he has batted .288/.325/.409, hitting 78 doubles and 19 home runs. That makes him a better than league average hitter in that span, which O's second basemen have decidedly not been. O's second basemen batted .236/.300/.369 in 2013.
He's also stolen 33 bases - 23 in 2013 - against five caught stealing. Defensively, he leaves a bit to be desired, with DRS gauging him at -11 and -13 runs in those two seasons. He played just about every day, which is another strange concept for O's second basemen, who have either gotten hurt or not been good enough to keep trotting out there.
The former 13th-round pick in the 2006 draft has two years of team control remaining. He will be playing for $5.7 million in 2014. I think sticking with Ryan Flaherty over that is just fine, don't you? Not to say Flaherty or Jemile Weeks are sure to have better years than Murphy, but they look a lot better than giving up Bundy or whatever other crazy demand the Mets might have made, and they'll cost about $5 million less as well, a chunk of money that went a long way towards getting the O's Nelson Cruz.
How long do you suppose Dan Duquette allowed his laughter to ring through the halls before he ended the conversation?