Murphy High On Mets' Poised Prospects Wheeler, D'Arnaud
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy is feeling good about his health -- and the future in Flushing.
Murphy has been day to day since last week, when an MRI revealed a strained muscle on his right side.
"I'm feeling really good actually," Murphy told WFAN's Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on Tuesday. "Today's one of the best days I've felt getting out of bed and coming to the ballpark. So I'm hoping baseball activities can start escalating here pretty soon."
Murphy had plenty of praise for New York's top pitching prospect, Zack Wheeler, who has garnered tons of buzz already at spring training.
"From the poise I've seen, he looks like he can handle it," Murphy said of Wheeler potentially making the big-league club. "He looks really good. I do think that right now, we have five guys that are a little bit more experienced and ready to go. But I think that when his name is called -- if it happens to be spring training or later in the season -- he's definitely gonna be ready."
Daniel Murphy
The infielder also delivered the 'P' word -- "poise" -- for top position prospect Travis d'Arnaud, who was acquired with fellow catcher John Buck from Toronto in the R.A. Dickey trade.
"He follows John Buck around. It seems like he's trying to learn everything he can from him," Murphy said, adding that Wheeler and d'Arnaud have been unfazed despite doing "1,500 interviews so far."
The Mets went into the All-Star break in 2012 as one of baseball's biggest surprises at 46-40. But they lost 13 of 15 games coming out of the mid-season pause, including their first five to NL East rivals Atlanta and Washington.
"This is a club that's come out of the gates and we've played really well in the first half. And I think part of that youth that you've been talking about -- with it comes energy," he said. "I think it's an exciting club to watch. We're just going to try to take what we've done so well for the first half and turn it into a full season."
Murphy admitted the team "got a little bit dazed after we got punched in the mouth" last season.
"As a young group, it was the first time we had kind of gotten really punched in the face ... and we struggled to get out of it," Murphy said. "We were dazed, and by the time we looked up, it had gotten away from us.
"With that comes the maturity and the experience of knowing that the next time that happens, that it's OK. It's all right, you just pick yourselves off the mat, and you keep coming to work every day."
Do you think there will be a real buzz surrounding the Mets in 2013? Be heard in the comments!
