The Mets had a day off and New York had a day to think about all of the cool things Daniel Murphy has done over the past week or so. For their part, New York reporters had a chance to write up “will the Yankees sign Daniel Murphy?” columns.
Here’s one from Mark Feinsand of the Daily News. Here’s one from Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record. Both of them note the Yankees’ need for a second baseman, note his lefty power and argue that it would translate pretty well to Yankee Stadium. Never mind that he has two homers and a SLG of .393 in 15 games in Yankee Stadium and, more to the point, is playing way above his head at the moment, can’t really cover second base and the Yankees have a third baseman, a DH and two first basemen, really.
Feinsand’s correctly notes that Rob Refsnyder is an internal option that the Yankees are more likely to go with than some expensive free agent. And even if they change their mind about that, there are many second basemen out on the market if they decide to go that route, including Howie Kendrick and Ben Zobrist. The upshot: there are cheaper options. There are better options. There are better cheaper options. Given the Yankees’ stated and, to quite a degree, demonstrated desire to get younger and cheaper, signing a 31-year-old Daniel Murphy at the top of his market following a killer and likely flukey postseason just doesn’t seem like the Yankees’ m.o. these days.
So why these columns? My guess: some editors who like to stoke the idea of Mets-Yankees rivalry and drama and who think it’s still 1987, George Steinbrenner is still alive and that the Yankees make decisions based on what is most likely to land them on the back pages of the tabloids.