The opt-out date in outfielder David Murphy’s minor-league contract with the Red Sox is this coming Sunday, and he could consider retiring rather than playing in the minors, John Tomase of WEEI.com writes. “I think I’m to the point in my career where I’ve played plenty of baseball, and I don’t think I’m interested in playing in the minor leagues,” says Murphy. “I would love to play until somebody tells me I can’t play anymore, until they rip the shirt off my back, but I think it’s got to be a big league situation.”
Murphy could win a job with the Red Sox, perhaps thanks in part to the fact that Rusney Castillo has struggled somewhat in Spring Training (batting .267/.333/.300) and can be optioned to the minors. If the Red Sox were to send Castillo to Triple-A Pawtucket, that could set up an outfield that includes the left-handed Murphy and the right-handed Chris Young as complementary pieces.
This is Murphy’s second stint with the Red Sox, who made him a first-round pick in 2003. Since then, the 34-year-old has also played for the Rangers, Indians and Angels, and he’s put together a solid track record that includes a .795 career OPS against righties over a career spanning ten MLB seasons. Last season, he batted .283/.318/.421 in 391 plate appearances.
Good, we don’t need Murphy. We got the future all star Betts, the best defensive OFer in Bradley. Castillo will turn it around and hit .300/.400/.500. Plus we have power hitting Chris Young off the bench, and Brock Holt can play OF too. Murphy can just retire. I absolutely love the team the way it is and we will easily win at least 100 games
– bigpapi4ever
Thanks Bro, saved me some time writing this, 100% agree.
I guess all Yankee fans aren’t so bad, are they?
bigpapi4ever, just stop man. Give it a rest
Stop what? I just agreed with a Yankee fan, that might be the first time ever, what am I doing that I need to stop?
Lol. 1 of things I said is false, and 2 of them are just bizarre predictions that are not really by me, but by you, which is why I made this post
The false thing – JBJ is the best defensive OFer. He isn’t even the best in his own division. That award goes to Kevin Kiermaier
2 bold predictions (again, by You, not me) – Castillo will have a .300/.400/.500 slashline and the Sox will win 102 games.
There’s more of he Yankee fan nonsense I’ve grown to know and love
And what you keep saying isn’t nonsense? Get a grip
So you go from Agreeing with me to then me talking nonsense? Take your pick lol
As I said, I’m just writing stuff you would say, and your response was this:
“Thanks Bro, saved me some time writing this, 100% agree.
I guess all Yankee fans aren’t so bad, are they?”
And then you say:
“There’s more of he Yankee fan nonsense I’ve grown to know and love”
because I said JBJ Isn’t the best defensive OFer, the Red Sox Will Not win 102 games, and Castillo Won’t hit .300/400/.500
Unfortunately the Castillo slash line and Red Sox win season total is something we won’t know til the end of the year, but please do tell how JBJ is the best
I’ll tell you how He Isn’t
Since JBJ debuted, he’s played 1800 innings. Over the last 3 years, there have been 108 OFers who have fielded 1500 innings. JBJ is ranked not 1st, but 12th (Twelfth) in UZR/150, 36th (Thirty Sixth), in RZR, 61st in OOZ plays (Out Of Zone Plays, though since he doesn’t have as many games played as others on the list, the low ranking is expected, but I can’t do it based on average), 22nd in DRS (same issue however with OOZ plays, playing time hurts. But he has only 19 in 1800 innings. Ender Inciarte by comparison has 52 DRS in 1900 innings)
Your turn.
Defensive stats are stupid. I use my eye test and my eyes tell me JBJ is the best defensive CF in baseball today, it’s really not close.
Then those eyes must not be working overly well..
Well that’s your opinion, we’ll have to agree to disagree.
Go Sox!
It’s not just an opinion. It’s a fact that JBJ isn’t the best defensive CF in baseball. He is 3rd in his own division
K
Ya stats are stupid when they don’t back up your ridiculous statements. The rest of us will take the logical and smart decision and strongly disagree with you. And by the way youre right about the best cfers in the game not being close to JBJ, Kiermaier, Pillar and Cain are miles ahead
I honestly don’t understand this guy’s love for JBJ. Everyone is missing the point here, JBJ isn’t even the best defensive center fielder on the Red Sox.
If Bradley wasn’t the best defensive center fielder on the team he wouldn’t be playing center field. He’s better in the field then Mookie, maybe not by much but he is.
I’m not saying JBJ is the best CF (defensively) but I believe he’ll challenge for the gold glove this year
No, not agree to disagree. That would imply that we have nothing substantial to back our opinions on, which is false. You are demonstrably wrong. The data and the facts are not on your side. This isn’t a matter of opinion. Shut. Up.
As a Red Sox fan myself, trust me when I say that you’re an embarrassment to Boston fandom. Just watch the games and hope the Sox win. (and by the way, they’re not “your Sox”; that’s such an obnoxious turn of phrase. Let it go). Stop offering your worthless thoughts.
Anytime man. You’re the man here.
Dude….he’s mocking you…
It’s pretty hilarious that bigpapi hasn’t figured that out yet, isn’t it?
whats hilarious is the forum moderation. how does one giant attack stay up for 4 hours. mlbtr needs to get there act together imo.
Unfortunately, you’ll need until June of 2017 to get those 100 wins.
Let’s get this straight. You guys complain about a guy commenting on this forum but then all you fellas do is comment about same guy you are tired of reading. Then a lot of you mock him when he doesn’t comment on an article. All the while trying to stir the pot so he comes out of silence and comments???? Nice.
Yeah he’s actually toned it down big time… The comments mocking him and the people getting their panties in a bunch over it are getting much more annoying.
He is still on every thread so not sure how you think he is toning it down a bit LOL. I am a baseball fa first and a Yankee fan second. While I like to comment on all threads cause I am a baseball fan first I do not talk about every thread like a Yankee fan and make ridiculous comments comparing every other team to my favorite team like he does. If he would just keep his talk to baseball talk then people may not get so annoyed with him but he says the craziest thinks and always compares a teams weakness to his beloved Red Sox greatness and that it was drives people nuts.
is
Thank you. He’s no longer calling out other teams for no reason, just overvaluing his own team to the extreme, which is certainly not unique. I’m much less annoyed by his one comment every 3 articles than by the 6 random comments mocking him every article, even ones he didn’t comment on
Well he even admitted that I basically wrote everything out for him, even though he didn’t understand I was mocking him. So he basically would have put this up anyway, and he would have been mocked at even more.
I actually think he knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s in all your head’s so bad and having fun with it.
I wish I could up vote this comment.
Too bad for Murphy. Have to think the guy could still contribute somewhere.
I agree. And I don’t blame him for not wanting to play in the minors anymore at this stage. He’s not a fringe player, he’s a bona fide bench bat, and a part-time regular on some teams. He isn’t exceptional at any one thing, but does a lot of things well enough. I have to think that multiple teams might be interested if he’s available, and I’m not all that sure that he doesn’t end up sticking in Boston.
I would say it’s not 100% that he doesn’t break camp with the team with Castillo starting in AAA. Although they did that last year, so I’d question whether they’d do it again this year. The Red Sox have enough options in Young, Holt and even Shaw if Castillo can’t hack it though. Murphy would look to be and extra piece, that I’m not sure you’d go out of your way to retain.
I like the idea of optioning Rusney Castillo to give him more of a chance to get acclimated to his new approach, and a David Murphy / Chris Young platoon in left field… They could do far worse than that. It makes a lot of sense for them.
Agreed. I’m not sure Castillo has shown enough on a team that thinks it’s in contention to deserve an every-day job. I’d find a place for Murphy, at least through May. If it doesn’t work out, then look to Castillo or Shaw
Phils could use an experienced, solid defensive outfielder with a little pop in their mix.. He’s a better option than Cody Asche, David Lough, or Cedric Hunter. makes sense seeing that aside from Peter Bourjos, the rest of the outfield is really inexperienced.
Agreed 100% although I like Hunter the best is rather have Murphy out there
You were quicker than I was on this. How Murphy could not find his way to the Phillies is beyond me. If it’s about playing in the Majors the Phillies are the perfect situation for Murphy as they’ve got an obvious opening and could use a little veteran influence on an extremely young roster. Now if he only wants to play for a team that’s going to be around during October then it’s a whole different kettle of fish.
David Murphy is a horrible fielder. Matt Klentak has said that he values defense first. He’ll take a no hit good field Lough over a good hit no field Murphy.
What gives you the idea Murphy is a horrible outfielder? He’s not a highlight reel guy, but he has been above average his entire career. I think Klentak will look favorably on getting a guy who can post an OPS roughly sixty points higher than the other guys while playing at least adequate defense.. They need another outfielder. and they could do much worse than Murphy.
Pienso que Murphy puede contribuir en un Platoon, quizás se ejerza su contrato para utilizarlo junto con Rusney, que todavía no creo que sea un jugador regular (en una temporada completa). Los jugadores hay que probarlos en temporadas regulares y no fijarse en números que pongan en el Spring Training!!!
No Hablo Espanol
I only took Spanish through high school, but I think he advocating a Murphy/Young platoon based on limited faith in Castillo. I could be way off though lol
Gardner and Ellsbury are as good or better than Bradley, Jr. in CF. IMO, Gardner should be the CF for the Yankees but Girardio seems to want to play everyone but Gardner at the position. Even played Young over Gardner last year which was befuddling.
Gardner hasn’t played a consistent CF in a couple of years and his defense is starting to decline in LF.. Ellsbury is still a decent defensive CFer but I will have to say Bradley is a lot better.
There has been a lot of guys hang it up this spring. 10-15 years ago these guys would still be putting up ridiculous numbers and commanding big money. With the juice slowing down and the emphasis on young, cheap players the game is definitely evolving.
You had a good run Murphy. Hope you can stick for another year somewhere. I hate seeing these guys bounce around to 10 teams in the last years of their careers.
Red Sox will win the WS this year no doubt.
Another first ballot Boston HOF prospect, who wont make the HOF on any number of ballots. I actually think Boston would be better served by Murphy/Young in RF than Castillo. Castillo’s bat still needs to acclimate to the States. Until some power shows, let him work in the minors. Boston has enough financial clout, they don’t have to play the bad contracts. If he finds his power, maybe he can show Craig where it was hiding.
Red Sox all the way in ’16!
Actually it would somewhat be a bad thing if he doesn’t make a ball club. He had a solid season last year to be honest I am from northeastern ohio and I got to watch him play with the Indians. He is still a legit platoon player to be honest.