From Hero to Villain: Daniel Murphy's Transition in the Eyes of Mets Fans

Source: +Getty Images 

Flashback to the Mets during their playoff run and eventually their postseason. Daniel Murphy was the star, and hero, for the Mets. He set a record of homers in six consecutive postseason games. His batting average was over .400. His slugging percentage was a 1.026. Murphy had the type of postseason players dream of having.

Despite Murphy's postseason performance, the Mets did not give him the contract he was looking for. Instead, they only gave him the qualifying offer of 1-year, $15.8 million, which he rejected. The Mets ended up trading for Neil Walker and Murphy signed a 3-year $37.5 million contract with the Washington Nationals. Defensively, Walker has a slight edge over Murphy. Offensively, they're practically the same player... well, on paper that was.

For both the Mets and Nationals, the completion of their thirteenth game against each other this season marked the beginning of the All-Star break. The Nationals have won 9 out of the 13 games in which they've versed the Mets in 2016. The player who's had the largest impact against the Mets? Daniel Murphy.

Greeted by a standing ovation during his first game back at Citi Field, Daniel Murphy quickly saw that reaction to his presence change as he was no longer greeted by cheers, but by boos. Boos because of his success against his former team sound through the stadium as he comes up to bat. In 13 games, Murphy's hitting .423 against the Mets. He's slugged seven home runs and recorded 21 RBIs. Murphy has, basically, single-handedly defeated the Mets so far this season.

While Murphy is hitting .348, Neil Walker is hitting .254. Their home run totals are about the same, but Murphy has nearly double the number of RBIs Walker has. Walker also has nearly twice the amount of strikeouts that Daniel Murphy has. While they may have seemed similar on paper before the season, it's been clear that, offensively, the Nationals currently have the better second baseman.

No one could have possibly predicted that Murphy would have the first half he's had. He's surpassed the number of home runs he hit throughout 2015 regular season. He's also batted in only seven-less runs than he did throughout the entirety of 2015. If this was predicted, his contract would have been for a lot more money than it was. And depending on how his second half goes, the decision to not give Murphy a better offer may be one of the biggest regrets of 2016 for the Mets. However, there's still lots of baseball to be played, so it will be interesting to see what occurs during the second half of the season. Even so, Murphy is undoubtedly one of the best hitters in the game right now.

As Murphy is enjoying success against his former teammates, Mets fans have become tired of seeing him. While many are happy he's doing well for himself, that happiness stops as soon as that success is against the Mets. He's relishing in his success, leading the NL in batting average, and ultimately making his former team regret not signing him back.

The player that was such a hero for fans in 2015 has become the villain, and quite possibly the one who becomes labeled as the one who got away.