A colleague wrote a piece comparing the New York Mets IF/OF Daniel Murphy to former Met Kevin Mitchell, who, in his first full season with the Mets in 1986, played several postions.

A more apt example, though, of what Daniel Murphy could be this season is Albert Pujols' 2001 rookie year. Pujols played in 55 games at third base, 43 games at first base, 39 in RF and 39 in LF. That is 176 games in a 162 games season! He did not have a set position and obviously played multiple positions  in the same game many times, perfect for the double switching necessary in the National League. Although Pujols made 20 errors in that season, he did hit .329 with 37 homers and 130 RBI's.

Murphy is currently in the Arizona Fall League learning the second base position. Reports say that he has a good glove there, but needs to improve his double play footwork and fine tune his instincts. The footwork will come with practice, but the instinct comes via game action. The Mets are in a precarious postion with LF as they have no one slated there for 2009 and at second base, where it appears incumbent and the highly paid Luis Castillo will not be a Met. If the Mets do not fill the LF job with a Matt Holliday from Colorado or fill 2B with veteran Orlando Hudson, Murphy would get significant playing time at either position. Talk is that Murphy will platoon in LF with Nick Evans. It would be best suited for Murphy to find a set position, but if it helps the team, he needs to be versatile.

But, if it is decided that Murphy can handle the everyday second base job, the Mets then think his defense is good enough and he can hit lefties. Whil ehe rarely hit against a lefty this 2008 season (only 10 at bats), he has hit lefties his entire career and is continuing this good trend in the 2008 Arizona Fall League. With his ability then to hit lefties not a question mark, why limit him to a platoon in LF?

Let him play the entire season in LF and fill in second base with a free agent player (Orlando Hudson) or another defensive stop gap.