The Nationals have activated veteran second baseman Daniel Murphy from the disabled list, per a club announcement. He’ll bat fifth and serve as the DH in today’s interleague contest. Murphy takes the roster spot of infielder Adrian Sanchez, who was optioned down to Triple-A.
The 33-year-old Murphy has been out all season while recovering from offseason microfracture surgery to his right knee. Indications are that he’s not at full speed in the field and on the bases, but evidently the team determined that he was ready to chip in at the MLB level and would not unduly risk further injury.
It’s a tough spot for all involved. Entering the year, the plan was for Murphy to take his time working back to health, with veteran Howie Kendrick filling in for the meantime. But Kendrick is among the many notable Nats players who have gone down with injuries of their own, and Murphy has seemingly not come along quite as smoothly as might have been hoped.
In the meantime, even despite the various losses, the Nationals have a bit of a roster logjam on their hands. It’s still not quite pressing, particularly since Murphy is likely not to resume playing every day immediately upon his return, but all the makings of a tough call are in place. The D.C. organization is working with a five-man bench that won’t be sustainable once Ryan Zimmerman is ready to be activated and when the team is finally forced to add some pitching back onto the roster, which will happen in short order.
If and when the Nationals are at full health on the position-player side, the team will have to make some tough decisions. One or two current position players will need to be moved out. Reserves Mark Reynolds and Brian Goodwin could both be at risk, but both would have to be exposed to waivers if removed from the active roster. Optioning Wilmer Difo is a possibility, but that’d mean going without a reserve capable of playing shortstop. Michael Taylor also has an option year left, but he’s been on fire and is the team’s best defender in center and lone right-handed-hitting outfielder.
That leaves one glaring, but unappealing possibility: optioning young outfielder Juan Soto. The nineteen-year-old was called up to the majors as something of a desperation move when Goodwin, Adam Eaton, and then Kendrick went down, representing the culmination of a remarkable early-season sprint through the farm. Having played in only 32 games in 2017 due to injury, Soto opened the current season at Class A. After 16 games there, he moved to High-A. He played 15 more before a quick bump to Double-A, with his promotion coming on the same day that Eaton’s surgery was announced. After just eight contests at the Double-A level, Soto was in the majors. Through 19 big-league games, he carries a .328/.431/.541 slash with three home runs and as many walks as strikeouts (11 apiece).
Generally, it’s preferable to deal with this situation than the one that presented itself earlier in the season, when the position-player picture looked rather bleak for the Nationals. Perhaps the club will even find a way to resolve some of its roster crunch in a manner that will help bolster its pitching staff, which is newly in need of buttressing even as the health situation improves on the other side of the roster.
In the meantime, the Nationals and their medical staff will watch Murphy closely to see how he’s progressing. If he can produce anything like the .334/.387/.569 output he carries through two seasons in D.C., it’ll be easy to look past some limitations in other aspects of his game. Other teams will be watching as well, as Murphy is slated for a return trip onto the open market at the close of the 2018 campaign.
Are you not amazed??? picture caption
Who took my sandwich
Playin tonight? Im going to the game
Yes, Murphy is DH’ing tonight, hitting fifth.
and Soto is on the bench; Understand, but would have liked to see him hit in Yankee Staium
Doesn’t really seem as difficult as the article suggests, Jeff. They should cut Goodwin. Corner outfielders and first basemen reserves are a dime a dozen, so it comes down to Reynolds and Goodwin. The former is hitting, the latter is not, so there you go.
Neither is hitting much lately although Goodwin is worse.. Both have played 19 games, both hit at first. Cut that 19 games “in half as close as possible and you see both nose-dived Games 1-9 Goodwin .333/.421/.533 …… Reynolds .444/.483/1.037
Games 10-19 Goodwin .050/.240/.050 …… Reynolds .171/.237/.257.
Hit it to Murphy!!!!!
These player transactions due to the overdependence on statistics has resulted in 12-13 person pitching staffs, short benches, daily roster changes, and out of control injuries (not to mention ever longer and more boring games).
Raise the roster size to 28. If a player is put on the DL, he cannot play at any level for 6 weeks. If a player is called up from the minors, he has to stay on the ML roster for 30 days. If a player is traded, his status goes with him. And if a team has only 22 players on their 28 man roster healthy enough to play…..deal with it!
“These player transactions due to the over dependence on statistics has resulted in 12-13 person pitching staffs, short benches, daily roster changes, and out of control injuries . . . “
You managed to pack a lot of silliness into one short paragraph. Care to flesh any of those “arguments” out with some statistical support—or do you expect folks to just take your word for all of that?
Huh?
You don’t know that almost all teams are carrying 12-13 pitchers? Until the stat geeks hit, most teams carried 10 pitchers. Pitchers had nowhere near the injuries, and their careers were longer. Heavens, look at the epidemic of TJ surgery’s the past 15 years…..which coincides with an epidemic of K’s.
I didn’t mean to lose you here, so allow me to simplify it:
Roster = 25
Starters = 8 position players in NL, 9 in AL
Bench with 12-13 pitchers on roster = 4-5 in NL, 3-4 in AL
When teams carried 10 pitchers, Bench = 6-7 in NL and 5-6 in AL
If I’m still losing you with my silliness, please consult with a Math teacher when school resumes.
“You don’t know that almost all teams are carrying 12-13 pitcher?”
Yeah, I do. The part I was arguing was your baseless assertion that the above factoid was/is caused by, in your own words, “the over dependence on statistics.” While you have asserted thar point you haven’t even tried to demonstrate it. Unless you’re Bill James, Pete Palmer, John Thorn, Mickey Lichtman, etc. you might wanna get in the habit of proving stuff you want people to accept. Your word alone doesn’t begin to cut it.
Not arguing the original fact, just disputing your conclusory and completely unsourced and unproven statement about cause and effect. And while we’re on the subject of proven facts vs. unsourced fertilizer, “Pitchers had nowhere near the injuries, and their careers were longer.” Bullcrap. Prove it. Complete ahistorical nonsense.
“If I’m still losing you with my silliness . . .”
Nope, now it’s your dishonesty that stands out. Try again?
I answered your question, and you moved the goalposts.
It’s up to the owners to find out why they’re paying out so much in salaries when such a large percentage of the players play and produce less and less. In business a company would hire an internal audit staff, or outside (i.e. external) auditors by going to major consulting firms to keep tabs on their management.
My suggestion would be for MLB owners to pitch in to have a major study done. The ever increasing K’s (I”ve seen those figures), the explosion of TJ surgery’s, the increased time on DL’s, the lower BA’s (.245 is now acceptable), and the ever decreasing number of balls being put in play – owners have had those stats for the last 3 years but do not know what to do – are good places to start.
I was raised playing baseball sunup to sundown – not playing Strotomatic & computer games. MLB is now where horse racing was 25-30 years ago. The younger fans don’t understand the sport. Consequently, only the championship-type competition draws nationally. MLB has had to turn the concourses of their parks into amusement parks as fans can’t sit through a game. Today race tracks have converted their concourses into rows of gambling machines to attract paying customers. In the next 15-25 years MLB will be adding gambling in their parks as well.
“I answered your question . . .”
You did not. You misunderstood my question, thought I needed a lesson in simple math, which you then professed to provide, smarmy attitude at no additional cost, while either conveniently or obtusely ignoring the actual question. What you did was the opposite of answering the question.
“ . . . and you moved the goalposts.”
I did nothing of the sort. I said that your post contained a bunch of anecdotal bullcrap, either not proven true by you or others or already disproven by others. I offered you an opportunity to either restate or provide some evidence which supports your um, theories and you respond here with more anecdotal bullcrap—none of which is at all related to the original question. Unlike you I have no problem keeping my eye on the ball and no amount of song and dance is gonna dissuade me.
I’ll try one final time.
You wrote that a long list of bad things in baseball are due to “the over dependence on statistics.” You have yet to offer a shred of evidence in support of that theory. Care to give it a shot or would you rather let your pointed silence underline the vacuousness of your position?
I told you guys microfracture knee surgery is no joke. I see a lot more basketball players get this procedure, than baseball. I wish I was a fly on the wall, to know what were Murphy’s other options (if he had any)
Greg Oden had microfracture knee surgery on both knees… Good luck Daniel Murphy… At least NBA players rely on athleticism more, and these guys are closer to 7’ tall
Even Amare got this surgery way back when, and said he regreted it, and only got it, cuz didn’t know what it was. Microfracture knee surgery is no joke. Why would Murphy need this? Is there a doctor in the house? Even though not a Nats’ fan, I like Murphy, think underrated. and hoping he gets back to 100%. Sorry, only got NBA.
I am not an elite athlete so take this with an everyday mans viewpoint who played sports growing up.
I tore my patellar tendon a few years ago. Doctor says well clean up the meniscus while in there to promote better healing conditions. Micro fracture was suggested as a means for my body to produce some protection in place of where cartilage used to be. I didn’t know what this meant until my surgery, but the doctor literally drills a hole into your bone until they hit the marrow and that begins to flow out. It’s a better alternative to bone on bone contact or future synthetic cushion because the marrow forms a natural cushion covering your bones.
My guess is that Murphy like most elite athletes had a lot of wear on the cartilage in his knees. Which is why this was suggested and ultimately performed. You’re right though it is not something that has a consistent recovery rate.
Grady Sizemore had it done, too, and he was never the same afterwards.
Daniel Hits Murphy, as FP calls him. One of the most likable guys in baseball
Another great Sandy Alderson move