7:17pm: The signing has been announced by the Red Sox. Murphy will have an opt-out at the end of the spring, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets.
10:35am: Murphy’s minor league deal contains a $2MM base salary, should he make the big league roster, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier (Twitter link).
9:55am: The Red Sox and free agent outfielder David Murphy are in agreement on a minor league contract, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). The Moye Sports Associates client will return to the organization that drafted him with the 17th overall pick in the 2003 draft.
Murphy, now 34 years old, split the 2015 season between the Indians and the Angels, batting a combined .283/.318/.421 with 10 homers on the year. Murphy’s two-year, $12.5MM contract didn’t work out quite as well as the Indians had hoped, but he still managed to post a roughly league-average batting line between the two seasons. He’ll provide the Sox with a contingency plan in the event that Rusney Castillo doesn’t play well enough in Spring Training to justify a 25-man roster spot right out of the gate. Beyond that, it’s difficult to envision precisely how Murphy could end up being a factor on Boston’s Opening Day roster. The Sox figure to have Castillo, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley roaming the outfield, with Chris Young serving as the fourth outfielder. They’ll have one bench spot reserved for backup catcher Ryan Hanigan, plus another for Brock Holt. Murphy could conceivably grab that final bench spot, but corner infielder Travis Shaw would seem to be the favorite for that slot after a very strong rookie campaign.
Wow Arte , you couldn’t just give Murphy a minor league contract? He would of been better then Nava and Gentry
I’m not super familiar with Murphy so correct me if I’m wrong but he looks a little awkward in the field. Possibly his defense in Boston’s short LF is less of an issue than LA’s.
Murphy is a solid hitter , and he would of been a better bat then Nava and Gentry
Possible that Murphy gave a discount to his 1st team. But the Angels aren’t really in contention and I think they know that, it could be that they said let’s move on from the older players and try to get younger. Also Nava has been known to tear up righties and Gentry is 2 years off a .300 season and hits lefties. Not a bad platoon and saves the Angels a couple million.
He would probably be in RF, but everyone is an improvement defensively over Hanley in LF.
First of all, they declined his $7 million dollar option, basically telling him he’s not worth that. Second, signing a minor league deal right now is mainly due to having to wait this long. There’s a chance that Murphy, like so many other FA’s this winter, overvalued himself right out of the Angels’ market, among other clubs. Third, at his age, and the type of player he is, there’s no more a guarantee he’ll be as productive (if not more than) Nava/Gentry. At least with the current Angels platoon, you get a couple of players who tear up pitchers on the opposite side of the mound, and who have better defense and you don’t have to relegate to DH just to save your OF defense. Even with the uncertainty of the current LF platoon, there are more reasons to go with that platoon than David Murphy.
Wonder what the knock on Sizemore is he was clearly better than Murphy wasn’t he? Not willing to take another minor league deal? Bad blood with Red Sox?
Sizemore looked like toast with his bat when with Boston in 2014. Murphy may not be able to hit lefties, but Young can. Not a bad pickup for emergency use in combo with Young. Shaw has 2.. Maybe 3 options, so never know how this shakes out. Good sign by Dombrowski.
Didn’t realize how bad Sizemore was in Philly at start of year either but he had a nice rebound in Tampa facing AL east pitching.
AL East pitching stunk last year. One of worst divisions (for pitching) in baseball.
Wow.. From a rocket scientist.. You figure that out because the AL East has all those offensive stadiums? Camden Yards, Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Toronto?
Maybe if the AL East teams played in 3/4 of those mausoleums NL teams do? Pitching would rule in the AL East also.
Yeah, I have no idea how someone can pretend like they’ve never heard of park factors by now on the internet. The AL East has some of the best hitting ball clubs in somewhat small stadiums.
Funny how this only gets brought up when someone says how the pitching in the ALE stinks, not when someone is claiming all of the offenses are great.
If you don’t have to face the Rays pitching, you’re in good shape as a hitter in the ALE.
Ah David Murphy, a big piece in the trade the brought Eric Gagne to Boston. Glad to have him back, good depth add if he hangs around in Pawtucket until injuries strike.
Thanks for reminding me about Eric Gagne, I looked him and what do you know, he played indie ball last year! Very most likely on a promotion deal but who knows. It was his first semi-pro experience since 2009.
link to baseball-reference.com
It’s still fascinating to me that the Red Sox managed to win the World Series in 2007 after that boneheaded Epstein move.
The biggest reason they won that year had nothing to do with Epstein. He left for a while and the Sox traded Hanley and Anibel Sanchez for Beckett and Lowell (who was considered nothing more than a throw in at the time). I believe Epstein was very against trading those two as well.
“The Red Sox signed a mid-season trade chip today…”
Hardly. David Murphy brings nothing in a mid-season trade. They signed an emergency corner outfielder in case of injury or Castillo being as bad as people are afraid he is. If the 3 regular OF work out, Murphy will be released.
C’mon, man, they might need bats and balls by mid-season…
RIght, but the Sox have three right-handed OF, and just added a left-handed OF. Conceivably they could use him against right-handed pitchers if Castillo proves he can’t hit righties, and that would allow them to deploy Holt elsewhere if necessary and not move Shaw into left field (where he might be OK, but who knows). Its a cheap depth move, and a good one.
Those three righties being Castillo Betts and Young (I’m not unaware of JBJ’s existence).
Angels should have just offered Murphy a one year deal. Fail.
You assume they didn’t have discussions or that he didn’t want to return…
You know what happens when you assume.
Aren’t YOU assuming they didn’t have discussions w/ Murphy? Aren’t YOU assuming he would have accepted a yr deal w/ the Angels? How can you say they failed if you don’t know all the facts about their negotiations/discussions?
You used the word, not me…..
I’m sure the Red Sox weren’t the only team to offer him an MiLB deal.
Not everyone can sign him.
Daniel, David, Donnie… I have a heck of a time keeping my Murphys straight.
lucky for you, Donnie just retired!
Just watch, there’ll be a Derek or Darryl or Dennis breaking camp with someone…
Best of my recollection I think Murphy, as Boston’s #1 in ’03, was the first draft pick ever made by Theo Epstein.
Another opportunity missed by the White Sox, and Orioles.
Do you guys think he is going to make much of a difference for the Sox in the majors? I dont know much about him.
Unless JBJ scuffles massively, somebody has a major injury or Rusney continues to underwhelm, I dont think he makes the team out of spring or gets 200 MLB at bats
Murphy is a pro. He had some good years after being traded from the Sox. To me it was a smart move now with two seasoned pro’s ( Young) in the OF mix to platoon in LF.
The Sox will have competition in the OF with Benintendi and potentially Moncada both to challenge for starting positions next year.
Castillo I see as trade bail eventually—one that will cost the Sox some money to move or let him restart and move up the ladder starting in A ball. He has a lucrative contract with options that will allow him time.
Teams should just start waiting until the end of the offseason to pick up players. Not saying Murphy is great, but I didn’t see him getting a minor league contract. The signings the last couple of weeks have been for next to nothing (compared to what the standard absurd going rate is in baseball).