Three-time All-Star Daniel Murphy, who announced his retirement in 2021, has launched a comeback bid and signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, the team announced this morning. He’ll be reunited with former Mets teammate Ruben Tejada, who signed with the Ducks last month.
“This game is part of my soul, and my passion for playing grew as great as ever when I discovered certain things that I believe will enable me to be productive on the field again,” Murphy said in a statement thanking the organization for the opportunity.
Murphy, who’ll turn 38 this weekend, last saw the big leagues with the Rockies in 2020, when he batted .236/.275/.333 in 132 trips to the plate. That marked the second season of a two-year, $24MM deal he’d inked with Colorado, during which he posted a combined .269/.316/.426 batting line that fell shy of his prior standards with the Mets, Nationals and Cubs.
From 2011-18, Murphy was a consistently above-average to elite hitter, batting a combined .303/.346/.462 while striking out in just 11.6% of his plate appearances. His bat-to-ball skills were among the best in the game and were on full display during a career-best 2016 season in Washington that saw him slash .347/.390/.595 (154 wRC+) with career-highs in home runs (25), doubles (47) and triples (5) while fanning at just a 9.1% clip. Murphy finished second in National League MVP voting that season.
Certainly, a return to that level of play can’t be expected at his age and with two full seasons having elapsed since he last took the field. That said, Murphy is a supremely talented natural hitter, and it’s plenty common to see players remain productive at the plate into their late 30s. The odds are generally stacked against any player in this type of comeback bid, but Murphy’s production with the Ducks will be worth monitoring.
Leg injuries, most notably knee surgery in 2018, dogged Murphy throughout the latter stages of his MLB career. It’s conceivable that the time away from the field has led to better health in that regard. If he looks to have captured some semblance of his old form, it’s easy enough to envision a team in need of a left-handed bat at first base giving him a look at some point during the 2023 season. If not, signing with the Ducks will give him one last opportunity to bid farewell to New York fans who cheered him on for seven memorable seasons with the Mets.
Daniel Hits Murphy as the great FP Santangelo calls him
Can’t wait to see him play again
I know all his gold gloves are lined up, Murph(Mr. Clutch) probably still can hit though. He’s got a great swing.
Absolutely. I never knock anyone with determination. He’s made his $$ but still thinks he can do it. I still occasionally go to YouTube to watch Daniel Nava’s first MLB swing. What a story that is.
Props for the Nava shout out
Never saw Nava hit Nova.
Those 2 and 1/2 years with the Nationals were insane. Went from an ol player to godly. All started in the playoffs with the Mets.
Long Island ducks? Just retire already had a good career got your MLB pension cmon…
hey Ham Fighter
Why don’t you go ‘fight your ham’ somewhere, and leave others to do what they wish?
Like Bronx their Mac
He was even more insane in the playoffs when he was with the Mets in 2015. What he did was simply ‘amazin.’
@padam it was amazing. Sandy Alderson decided to not pay Murph because of comments about his faith that he made a couple years back and instead traded for Neil Walker. How do you not sign a guy that straight up carried your team to the World Series, 7 freakin homeruns. Its no surprise that Sandy Alderson had a hand in hiring Silly Eppler. Alderson has never won anythinh because he doesn’t know a thing about baseball. Never once constructed a good bullpen either. He is a stain on the organization
Very similar to Jayson Werth actually. Playoff hero gets overpaid by the Nats, but helped transformed the Nats identity.
So right, VonPurpleHayes. The Nats had some good years and some moves like Werth and Murphy pushed them over the top in the NL East. I hope his magic comes back on Long Island. It would be too much to ask now, but If Murph gets back to somewhere near what he was and “Twinkle toes” Vogelbach ( Fred Flintstone with a bat instead of a bowling ball) is having a mediocre year then reach back out to Daniel Hits. I’d make a great story.
Actually, he wasn’t overpaid. He had a QO that would’ve paid him about $17M for that year and he took a 3/$36M deal.
Murph was absolutely NOT overpaid by the Nats! He was the best hitter in the NL in ‘16 and made $12.5 million. He was a steal. He was a delight to watch. During a rain delay in ‘17 I saw Murph talking hitting with Harper in the indoor batting cage. Harper was looking at Murph incredulously, like “YOU might be able to do that, but I can’t.”
Of course, Harper’s just fine hitting his own way…
Uh, Werth put up mediocre numbers. He never justified what he was paid overall. Murph was sublime ’16-’18, and he earned every penny.
players un-retire when they get sick of their wives
Or steep alimony. Because their wives are sick of them.
he will be bench piece for NYM by June.
@Sliderwitcheese- you sound like you have experienced this? Lol.
So happy an absolute stud like Murphy is back in the game! Hopefully he rakes and becomes a key player-coach for any team to takes a flier on him
That’s pretty fun. Good for him. He will sell some tickets.
I’ll be one of them
Quack attack is back jack
What did he discover, steroids?
He already knows about them, believe me.
No matter how much you plead, I will not believe you
The cure for ringworm!
“I got one more in me,”–Daniel Murphy, probably
The mets did him so dirty after the playoffs, he was practically begging to come back to the mets and waited in free agency for the mets call until they went and got walker shutting the door on his return. Then turned on the turbo when he went to the nationals.
It was probably the right move in retrospect.
lmao, they did no such thing. Murphy rejected the QO and up until those playoffs was the definition of mediocrity (6 1/2 full seasons with the Mets, 109 OPS+ and a little over 13 WAR and never having more than 3 WAR in a season). He went on an absolute tear in the playoffs but who could know if it was a fluke?
Refresh your memory, because a lot of people were very skeptical of the Nats signing him:
mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/nationals-to-sign-danie…
I thought from the start that Murphy should have bet on himself and taken the QO.. With the numbers he put up in his first year with the Nats, he’d have gotten a lot more than the 3/$39.5M., with the QO money in ’16 and then four or five years at closer to $20M AAV. But there were definitely reasons to leave the Mets. Unfortunately for him, opt outs weren’t the rage in 2016.
Right, Marc. iirc, up until that point only a few players has rejected the QO. Wonder how much more Muprh could have made if he went the route you’re talking about. Probably could have doubled the overall money at least.
He produced with batting average and double which he is pretty much what McNeil is right now. High average with a bit of pop although mcneil has better pop if i remember correct as i dont have murphy’s hr totals with mets handy. Mcneil also has better defense.
The thing which is typical for mets they moved him around everywhere and he was not the best defender with prob 2nd and 1b being his better positions although i honestly dont remember how good he was at 3rd in the majors because he was blocked there.and seemed passable in the minors
regarding qualofying offers up until that year no one accepted their qualifying offers although many resigned with original team on multiyear deal which is what Daniel wanted. The mets valued the pick more than murphy and let him walk. If i remember correctly the pick never played for the mets and got traded but please correct me if i am wrong. Also this QO year only 3 out of 20 accepted QO which is pretty much the average accept count.
I think his request wasnt crazy and they ended up paying walker about the same if not more than murphy aav. I think it was said he wanted 3 / 30 from the mets but that is from memory and dont feel like hunting through boards to find it.
LOL. None of them were Nats fans! Awesome signing!
The Story from the Mets Fans Perspective: For years the Mets played Daniel Murphy despite some initially mediocre results while telling the fans they “believed in his approach” and continued to hype and hype and hype him. The rest is typical Mets to the max… So he FINALLY shows everyone the Mets were right about him the whole time by going absolutely legendary in the postseason… the fans love him more than ever.. he is an unquestioned team and clubhouse leader.. he plays 3rd base at a time when David Wright can hardly stay on the field anymore.. and they let him walk.. to the rival Nats for 3 yrs./$37.5 million. It was infuriating after watching how deeply the organization believed in him the whole time up until that point only to let him go at a time when he was most valuable to the club. Again, typical Wilpon-era Mets.
Always rooting for guys who love the game. He hasn’t tested those knees in quite some time, so he’ll find out soon if his body can put up with the abuse yet at this stage. You need those knees to generate power in the swing, so you can’t even just expect him to come back as a DH.
The Atlantic League is more than it’s Quacked up to be.
:-0
Look forward to seeing him up in the majors this season.
Well, if he can find his hitting stroke again, he would be like an Albert Pujols or Nelson Cruz
I am sure teams could go for that
He is a butcher in the field, but when Murphy was right, that dude could hit!
I saw Murphy as the poster child for why you shouldn’t use UZR+ for first basement. The season he covered for an injured Carlos Delgado at First, UZR+ loved his range, when the reality was that he was a poor third baseman who lacked the experience to know which balls to pursue and which to cover first and let the second baseman take. It led to more risky 4-1 plays than were necessary.
He should have been made a 1B permanently somewhere along the line. He put up 1b-man numbers in his best years. And he wouldn’t have had to emulate the athleticism required to play better-than-average 2B.
Dan Murphy put the Mets on his Back along with Cespedes to carry the Mets to the WS in 2015. He learned to become a power hitter and became one of the greatest contact hitters in MLB. He was awarded the 2015 NLCS MVP Award.
Over the course of the NLDS and 2015 National League Championship Series (NLCS), Murphy became the first person in major league history to hit a home run in six consecutive postseason games, beating a record set by Carlos Beltrán, and became the second person, after Lou Gehrig, to have a hit, a run, and an RBI in seven consecutive postseason games. He also broke a Mets franchise record for most home runs in the postseason, previously held by Mike Piazza.[22] He hit .529 with four home runs, a double and six RBI and was named the 2015 NLCS MVP..
He became a FA after 2015 after rejecting the Mets QO where he signed with the rival Nats and tormented his former team over the next couple of years.
Lol Mets and Lol Sandy Alderson.
Would rather have Murphy on this Mets team right now over a dude thats definetly over 300 pounds and can’t run. Veteran, one of the games best high avg hitters, leader, etc. Its pretty obvious Murphy got ran out of the league for his comments he made on his faith. He never got a second chance meanwhile Jeff Mathis can play till hes 40yrs old and statistically be one of the worst hitters ever. I know Murphy’s defense isn’t at the MLB level but the players that the Mets and many other NL teams ran out there at DH last year was a joke
Why is this under headlines??
I can’t wait to see him. Great guy! He posed for pictures with my son years ago.
Another player whose career was revitalized by the launch angle revolution that so many of you old fogies don’t approve of.
I still don’t approve.
Yankee fan here pulling for him to make it back to the show. Very cool.
If Carpenter can do it why not him?
What’s the deal with the Long Island Ducks? It seems like every major leaguer past their prime but not ready to fully retire signs with them. To the extent that you frequently see headlines about guys signing with the Long Island Ducks, but then it’s like… who else plays in that league? Do former big leaguers sign with other Atlantic League clubs? Or are other Atlantic League clubs affiliated minor league clubs that are basically the minors for specific teams so they just sign a minor league deal with that major league team while the Ducks are truly independent?
The Ducks routinely outdraw the Oakland A’s, despite playing in a 6000 capacity stadium.
I remember HOFer Rickey Henderson playing for the San Diego Surf Dogs after his MLB career had finally ended. Dude loved the fortune and fame. He also loved the game.
Loved him with the Nats. I mourned when they got rid of him. What a sweet swinger. Murph is the best. Hope he recaptures the magic.
He’ll sign with the Yankees, continuing their long tradition of Met-rehab projects headlined by Darryl, Doc and Coney.