Mets fans can breathe a small sigh of relief – Daniel Murphy is staying out of the NL East.
The former Mets infielder turned Mets killer with the Nationals agreed Thursday to a two-year, $24 million deal with the Rockies, according to The Post’s Joel Sherman.
Murphy, a 33-year-old who hits lefty and throws righty, played the first seven seasons of his career with the Mets, beginning in 2008. The 2006 13th-round pick appeared in 903 games for the Mets, hitting .288 with 228 doubles and 402 RBIs.
He became a New York hero during the team’s run to the 2015 World Series when he hit .421 (16-for-38) with seven home runs and 11 RBIs across the Mets’ first two postseason series and earned MVP honrs for the NLCS. However, he then proceeded to go 3-for-20 with seven strikeouts and no extra-base hits in the Mets’ five-game World Series loss to the Royals.
Though the fan base had grown attached to Murphy, the Mets chose not to bring him back that offseason, and he signed a three-year deal with the Nationals in free agency.
Murphy made the Mets immediately regret their decision when he put up an MVP-worthy season — he finished second in the voting to Kris Bryant – for the rival Nationals in 2016 and seemed to take particular pleasure in torturing the team that had spurned him.
Over the next two full seasons with the Nationals, Murphy hit .385 (54-for-140) with nine home runs and 35 RBIs against his former team. In 2016, he slugged .773 against the Mets and basically spent the season making New York fans lament the superstar they could have had.
The Nationals, who performed well below expectations last season, sent Murphy to the Cubs in an August trade as part of their late-season sell-off.
The career .299 hitter should see his slugging numbers jump in the thin air of Coors Field, and reports are the Rockies will likely employ the versatile infielder at first base.
Of course, all that matters to Mets fans is they only have to watch him beat up on their team seven times a season at most. Sometimes it’s the little victories.