Red Sox outfielder David Murphy can opt-out of his contract with the Red Sox today. If he does, he might not be unemployed for long. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe expects Murphy to get calls from multiple teams and he hears from one major league source that the Orioles are among the clubs with interest. Cafardo adds that Murphy is “likely” to exercise his opt-out clause today.
Murphy, 34, inked a minor league deal with Boston in late February, bringing him back to the organization that drafted him in the first-round of the 2003 draft. The veteran’s big league journey took him to Texas for parts of seven seasons before he inked a two-year, $12.5MM contract with the Tribe. That deal didn’t quite go as planned and last season, the Indians shipped Murphy to the Angels. Between the two stops, he posted a combined .283/.318/.421 slash line with 10 home runs.
So far this spring, Murphy has looked solid and he feels as though he’s done enough to make a big league team.
“I feel I’ve had a decent camp and shown the Red Sox what I can do,” Murphy said. “I just want to end up in a major league uniform.”
By the same token, Murphy says that he would rather retire than play the 2016 season in the minors. For his career, Murphy owns a .274/.333/.432 big league slash line over ten seasons with the Red Sox, Rangers, Indians, and Angels.
Saying on NESN today that Holt is expected to be the starter on opening day vs Kluber also.
Murphy has looked pretty good this spring in most of the broadcasted games, if he’s going to pick a team? I’d like to see the O’s as the one he chooses.
Boston can play this one well if they want.
Hypothetically, they can add him to the roster to create leverage in a trade to be honest. Murphy is by far the most valuable outfielder about to hit the market so they should reap the benefits. It wouldn’t be a ton, but they could probably get something.
They really can’t do this. The Red Sox figure to have their nine regulars Ryan Hanigan, Brock Holt, Chris Young, and Travis Shaw on the bench. They could send Shaw, who is killing it in spring training, to the minors, but all that does is keep an inferior player who won’t get many at bats and drops a superior player who will. What if no one wants Murphy right away? Then they’re sitting on him to get what figures to be a mediocre return.
They could option Castillo
they already said they’re not doing that again.
Castillo, despite a less than impressive rookie campaign, has a lot more upside than Murphy. Just substitute Castillo for Shaw in my above comment.
If the O’s do send Kim back to Korea, Murphy could be a good platoon for Rickard in left field.
I hope the put Murph on the 25 man and start Rusney in AAA.
Somebody must be easter egg hunting.
trolling a troll, thus making one a troll. brilliant…..