The rules need to be re-written for Daniel Murphy.  Murph’s rookie eligibility vanished with a pinch-hit strikeout on the last day of the 2008 season, pushing his at-bat total to 131, or just one more AB over the limit for rookie eligibility.  It’s a shame, too, as Murph’s worst season during his surefire Hall of Fame career will happen to be his rookie year.  But being the man he is, Murphy won’t cry about it.

That’d be so un-Murph.

Just look at what Murph’s been able to do so far in 2009, hitting primarily in the 2-hole as a not-so-everyday Left Fielder:

In 75 ABs, he’s scored  15 runs, slammed three home runs, knocked in 17 RBI, and even legged out two doubles and a triple on his way to a .313/.376/.493 while appearing in 22 games.

Mind you, he hasn’t started every game, but has pinch-hit when hasn’t.  (The sole exception was the April 18th game, in which he made no appearance.  Sources say that Johan took a page out of Gladiator and, before the game, tied Murphy up by his arms in the dark recesses of the training room and shanked him in the ribs while mockingly embracing him – all as payback for the costly “Oh Murph” moment in Florida the week prior.)

Extrapolating these numbers over a conservative estimate of 600 ABs, Murph’s due for:

120 runs, 16 doubles, 8 triples, 21 homeruns, 88 RBI, and even 8 for 8 on  stolen base attemps to keep the Robby Hammocks of the world honest.  (Robby Hammock caught stealing 2 out of 13 attempts in 2008.  When’s the last time YOU caught a major leaguer stealing a base?).

It’s pretty safe to say that if Murph got just one less AB in 2008, his projected 2009 figures would’ve made him a lock for the NL ROY award.  Take it one step further and assume Murph really IS the full-time starting LFer for the Mets and tack on another 50 ABs or so – that’s another 9% increase in production! I’d like to see Jordan Schaeffer or one of Florida’s 37 rookies match that.

So where does Murph go from here?  Well, where else but up?  Murph only turned 24 at the start of the season, so let’s assume he plays until he’s 45 years old, and project a compounded 10% increase in offensive production each year.  That gives us another 21 Murphtastic years of HOF-caliber production.  Just doing the math alone makes your head swim.  How many players by the age of 30 are scoring over 200 runs a season?  In 2015, we’ll know one of them is Danny Murphy.  In fact, even his current lifetime fielding percentage of .957 will eventually improve to be OVER 1.000 – that is, his play will be so flawless that it actually negates his teammates’ errors.

Fast forward to Cooperstown, NY in the year 2035.  Murph will be preparing his induction speech, the curators of the Hall of Fame will be deciding in which order to display the unprecedented three separate Daniel Murphy plaques – one each for the three different Mets caps – Citi Field groundskeepers will be adjusting his retired #28 high up on the left field wall, the Commissioners office will be finalizing the fine print on the new rookie eligibility rule of 131 ABs, and his wife Julie Alexandria Murphy will be expecting their 14th child.  At the induction ceremony, Murph will make a joke about that dropped ball in Florida many years ago, about how he’s settled into his role of Vice President of OhMurph Inc., but what he WON’T do is cry….

That’d be so un-Murph.