Hey Jerry Manuel, Give Daniel Murphy a Chance!

Over the past few weeks, injuries have plagued the New York Mets, who have been struggling to find a consistent lineup that will produce.

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The roster has consisted of platoons and fill-ins and, for the most part, they have done their job.

However, one of those platoon players has the potential to be an everyday hitter and a very solid contributor to the lineup.

That player is Daniel Murphy.

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Murphy began the season as a starter in left field and what did he do? He produced.

The young hitter batted .324 during the month of April and found a nice spot in the lineup behind Jose Reyes.

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So what was his reward? He was turned into a platoon player and started less games. During the month of May, Murphy was getting less at-bats and, not surprisingly, his batting average went down.

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Now that Carlos Delgado will be on the disabled list for an extended period of time, Mets manager Jerry Manuel should let Murphy show what he is capable of. It is too hard for a young player to come in and out of the lineup and produce well.

This is why the best bench players are more experienced professionals, like Alex Cora and Fernando Tatis.

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Manuel seems to be trying to please every person on the team by getting them extended playing time. This is an important thing for a manager to do.

However, he seems to be hurting the players he is benching, like Murphy and Ryan Church earlier in the year.

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I think the Mets should let Tatis do what he does best and be a very good bench player. They should also give Murphy the chance to be an everyday first basemen because, not only do they need one now, but the Mets will need one next year too.

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If Murphy can get settled at a position defensively, he can get back to doing what he does best: batting.