What are we gonna do with him? For me, right now, I think he's at his baitiest point of trade bait with his .304 / .380 / .479 in the most active season of his career. That would open up a spot for Kinsler at COF and sweet, sweet Jurickson at 2B. On the other hand David Murphy is awesome and from Texas and has a smile like sunshine, so I don't know.

What lies in the stars for the Baylor Basher?

Well, that was kind of weird but we're back in the club.......

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I honestly believe he earned his spot on the team as a starter. He's gotten better year over year, and has learned to hit lefties more consistently. Is he liability when a big time lefty like Price is out there... i dunno. I think we need to let hamilton go and roll with an OF of Murph, Martin, Cruz/ or Bourn or something like that.

I just dont believe there is a better option out there in FA unless you nab Bourn, or actually sign Hambone.

that's just my opinion

What were you thinking of in terms of a return on Murphy? Is any team going to trade an established big league player for him? I don't think so... and we would need a big league player in return, not prospects.

I'd rather we trade Cruz than Murphy.You would probably get a better return simply by name recognition and I think that if you give Murphy 600-650 ABs, he would be more productive than Cruz. Maybe he won't hit as many HRs but in case you didn't notice, Cruz didn't exactly mash this year... and this team doesn't value sluggers like iit has in years past. Also, I don't think teams fear Cruz at all anymore. I think pitchers look at him as an easy out because he feasts on fastballs but is fooled by breaking balls. As the season wore on opposing pitchers threw nothing but breaking balls and he couldn't hit them. Murphy won't strike fear in opposing pitchers but I believe he will at least garner more respect.
Trading Murphy would be a mistake...

I agree with Murphy earning a full-time starting gig here in Texas. Gentry/Martin in CF if the Hamilton sweepstakes gets out of hand, and Kinsler moves to the other corner spot. Cruz as DH.

As a player, he is a quality piece but not a star. We could definitely do worse than Murph in LF, especially if we had a good RH bat that could spell him against tough lefties (Kinsler?). He is not a great DF player, but LF is not a position where defense matters all that much unless the player has an elite arm/elite range. You'd like to get a little more consistent pop out of the corner OF, but he'll do fine.

As a trade piece, he's not going to bring anything by himself but could be more than a throw-in. In the heirarchy of trade pieces, we have the crazy-good value (Elvis, Profar, Yu, Ogando, Feliz, Harrison) and the "good value" (Murphy, Olt, Grimm, Martin, Holland, Moreland) and the "no or negative value" due to player quality or contract (Young, Ian, Cruz).

That's what I see. I do like the "sell high" mentality. Still wondering if we should have done that with Josh and tried to net a Texiera-esque haul for him.

I like Murphy. As CJ said, he's not a star, though, so it seems unlikely he'll bring more in trade than he's worth himself. I agree with Pablo; if we're going to trade someone I'd rather it be Cruz. As much of a difference as he makes sometimes, he's very streaky, and I think over the last couple years we can see that Cruz has faltered defensively and Murphy has stepped up.

Then again, not sure what Cruz would bring either, but if it comes down to 1 of the 2, I want Murphy this year.

He had a superb year, no matter which way you cut it. His stat sheet was off the chart and he earned the starting gig... just not in Texas.

His UZR was far above his career average, his BABIP was unsustainably high, his WAR was a full 2.1 above his previous year high. I fully believe in buying low and selling high. Murphy's stock could not possibly get any higher. For a team on the edge of vying for a playoff spot, he could fill a void in someone's outfield. The Rangers have enough needs other in other very key positions to possibly induce them to move Murphy. If he could play CF, I'd be less inclined.

Fangraphs says Murphy racked up 92 innings at CF in 2011. I really don't remember that.

Nompton's right, his stock isn't likely to get any higher. But what could you get for him? If you could get something good I'd be more likely to deal with having bad defense in RF another year, but who would you get? A 1B? A TORP? Seems unlikely. A prospect who's not anywhere in the same league as Profar? No thanks.

Maybe he could be part of a package for a 1B or TORP or...hmm, is there another David Ortiz out there? Hmm...

Funny story, I remember last year when Murphy was having a pretty bad start to the season and it was the consensus around here that we couldn't trade him for a sack of bats or a C grade prospect. My, how different things are now.

I don't think this lineup can stand to lose Hamilton, Cruz, and Napoli in the span of one off-season. That's a shit ton of power you'd be dropping.

As for the return on Murphy...idk, a good bullpen arm and a prospect? Assuming Koji and Mike Adams are gone?

In fairness, they did lose Napoli for a while this season, and they basically lost Josh for a while (with a home run there and a strikeout there). Those were bad times, but they still won 93 games.

A year ago i would have said to trade Murphy....now he is a solid start in the OF....lefty, good situational hitter...decent speed...does not strike out that much...no baggage or drama with him...and a good teammate.....and fairly cheap, all things considered.

I think Cruz would bring a higher return, though.

Muph slone could net you a middle relief and AA prospect, perhaps. Or he may be a second piece in a juicy, big name trade.

Murph must stay. I will be severely disappointed if he gets dealt. I hate to say it, but I would question the direction of the organization if they got rid of Murph. Sure, he's not a prime time guy, but he is a solid ballplayer. All the things dhillii said are true and are the exact reason why he cannot be dealt.

#Murphfor600ABsin2013

The other thing one must think about in terms of murphy is #leadership. Everyone wants to anoint Kins as the clubhouse leader, but in my opinion After Young the leader is Murphy. He's always answering media questions after a win or loss. He's always the first to congratulate players on a good play. Beltre is the silent "i'll kill you with a look leader" but Murphy is the clubhouse vocal leader after young. If notorious is correct and Murphy can get 600 ABs. He could easily (dare I say it) BE the next MY. 200 hits a season, around 15 HR and a stolen base or two.

Don't T-Dog Murph Dawg....

Cruz is a FA after the season. I know it's Cruz, but not sure if teams would cough up that much for a 1-year rental, not to mention his power numbers were down from the previous year despite 100+ more PA's. He may be on the decline.

I guess yall are more optimistic than I am about Murph being able to repeat his 2012. Way, way more optimistic if you think 31 year old Murphy's gonna suddenly turn into Michael Young.

Coylio has this right, as does Nompton. For one arbitration year of David Murphy (probably in the $6M-$6.5M range), you aren't going to get a ton in return for him straight up. Unless it was some relief pitcher or a platoon bench piece, teams aren't going to go in real hard on him.

I think he'd be better served as a complementary piece in a trade. I've proposed all along, now that Chris Young is no longer in Arizona, that David Murphy would be a perfect one-year stopgap for AZ in an Elvis Andrus for Justin Upton swap. Basically, including one year of David Murphy might save us a prospect or two in a big trade.

Arizona actually has a lot of outfield depth that will probably be ready, or close to ready, in 2013. David Murphy would make an excellent insurance policy, which is truly all he is in Arlington.

As for the Murphy/Cruz 'who should we trade' debate, I'm putting my money on recency bias for anyone who would rather keep Murphy. His BABIP against lefties this last year was .433. .433. Odds are through the roof that he'll ever come close to that again, and if a lefty can't hit lefties, he's not an everyday player. Nelson Cruz may already be hitting his decline, but I'm betting -- in a contract year -- he has a better chance to be a 3-4 fWAR player than Murphy.

I've actually never heard one person want to annoint Kinsler the clubhouse leader. I HAVE heard more than a few already say even with Young still here that Beltre is that guy.

@Eric
I personally think we own the market for Upton and I definitely think Elvis is worth more than Upton, but I'm slowly warming up to your idea. But I need more than just Upton to deal Elvis. What are your thoughts on an Upton/Bauer package for Elvis/Olt/Murph/L. Garcia? I think that's a pretty fair trade. Maybe a minor low prospect would need to be included, but that's my trade I offer to Arizona. If they would like to swap out Goldschmidt for Bauer, I would be ok with that too. But I need more than Upton for Elvis.

Well, lefties who cant hit lefties have a better shot at being full time players than righties who cant hit righties (strictly because of the number of RHP vs LHP). Its not like CarGo or Alex Gordon or Jay Bruce or Andre Ethier bash lefties. Lefty hitters can hide their struggles against LHP because they are going to average about twice as many at bats against RHP than LHP. Even when other teams know they cant hit lefties and try to take advantage of it.

Stefen, I think the value of the two per year is probably pretty close, but IMO what makes upton more valuable is the extra year of control vs elvis. You have to think about it in years. Whats more valuable, 2 year of elvis or 3 years of upton?

@P1

The thing is, Justin Upton owns a 3rd year at the end of his contract which Elvis does not. Even though Elvis is only making $11M+ over the next two years and Upton is making $38M over the next three, Upton has a greater chance of putting up 6+ WAR seasons than Elvis does. Elvis probably has the higher basement, but Upton has the higher ceiling. Without Josh Hamilton, we want ceiling.

I'm not trading a top 3 player at a premium position for anyone named upton who plays a non premium position. Now... an Upton/Bauer package? Profar is available for that. Something like Elvis plus Perez seems fair for both sides.

I like Murphy as much as the next guy but I've maintained since the end of the season he's a sell-high candidate. If Andrus stays then LF has to be cleared for Kinsler, and I'm lukewarm on Murphy in RF. Don't think Cruz will fetch a big return in a trade. I would try and move Murphy for a catcher or DH like Josh Willingham.

keep murph for the simple fact that he is a lefty, our line up without him would be all right handed hitters, so for that alone i say keep murph trade Cruz.