How much would you extend Murphy for, if at all?

I like David Murphy. I don't expect that much out of him though. Last year was his best season by far. I think that it's his ceiling for all future years. He plays average defense, but has a smaller range. He makes routine plays look spectacular though, but that is mainly a knock on his range. His arm leaves a lot to be desired, but he is scrappy and plays as such.

Texas needs guys like him on the roster, and if Murphy is your 7th place hitter, then your offense is looking pretty good. So I wouldn't mind seeing the rangers extend him for a couple of years at a price of 5-7 million per year. It would keep a veteran bat and 4th OF around if the Rangers ever do make a play for someone like Upton.

I'd let arbitration take its course. $5.5-$6.0M for one year would be cool. Beyond that, I think the Rangers are looking at greener pastures. He's been a good mate in this organization since he was traded from Boston in '07, so I'd be fine with Jon Daniels letting him walk after this year to get himself a full-time role somewhere in the National League.

Post 2013, a 3-year, $30M deal would be excellent for Murph. Face it, he's a platoon outfielder in Texas.

I agree with Pickles, unless Murphy posts a second consecutive year of being able to hit LH pitching. I also agree with Pickles as to Murphy's value.

I would go one further and suggest that once defense is included, either Borbon or Engel Beltre would produce about the same WAR as Murphy, without the cost, Borbon being more predictable than Beltre offensively, and Beltre being more predictable defensively than Borbon. All 3, being left handed hitters, hit RHP better than LHP.

To me it is clear to trade Murphy now, to get salary relief and a prospect for Murph, without much dropoff of WAR (or no dropoff if Borbon has matured and if Murphy has aged).

The question then, if whether to play Borbon, who is gone if he is not no the 25 man roster at the end of spring, or Belte, who has more power and better defense. I would keep Borbon, play him and try to get prospects for him mid season or next spring. If Borbon fails, the Rangers have not lost much because Borbon is not that highly regarded now, and Beltre can be brought up. If Borbon succeeds, the Rangers will have gained a prospect for Borbon and a year of maturity for Beltre. Either Borbon or Beltre will likely need a platoon partner, who could be Butler.

I am previously on record that Cruz should be traded also as well as Moreland. Both of them will take away WAR if Washington plays them instead of better players (Kinsler, Profar, Gentry).

I would definitely give him a contract. Our outfield in 2014 will be a lot different. Cruz will be gone. Who knows if Martin lives up to hype. Keep Murphy around box we don't have any outfielders ready to step in n play in 2014.

Hey rev,
Maybe we should invite Lainey from espn to give her thoughts on this. Lmfao.

I read that this morning.....That person is quite unstable.

I think Murphy is the type of player that you let someone else sign him in this off season. He's on the wrong side of 30. He plays average level defense. He's usually around an average offensive player. So someone who is close to average is starting their decline phase and we want to lock them up? If we were going to do that we were going to do it with Hamilton, who has a lot more to decline from.

Let the gritty 32 year old go at the end of the season and let someone like Kevin Towers or Dayton Moore sign him.

If you have a team of Josh Hamiltons, you have a $600 mm payroll... Luxury Tax on top of that?

The Murphys of the world are CRUCIAL to being competitive. Especially with his attitude and, at the very least, average abilities.

If you let Murphy walk who do you see as our starting left fielder in 2014?

David, reading comprehension is your friend. I was suggesting that if you are going to sign a 32 year old player to a long term contract it was going to be someone like Hamilton as opposed to someone like Murphy. You have to players who are the 26 year old version of David Murphy are the players that are necessary for a team to compete. The 32 year old version of Murphy is frequently the guy that gets GMs in trouble by signing them for 3+ years.

As far as who the starting left fielder for 2014 is, I have no clue. Just looking at the one 2014 FA list I can find I start looking and see, after the season, what Choo(if he has a bounce back season) or Prado are wanting. I'm not against keeping David Murphy, I'm just against giving David Murphy years of a guaranteed contract. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see us trade for a COF by this time next year as I do think our actual COF prospects are somewhat mediocre or far away.

Corner outfielders can be converted from infielders or older (former) centerfielders.

Mike Olt fits that bill. Alex Gordon and Ryan Braun both started out as a 3B and both are heroic in LF (Braun's skills with a stick in his hand notwithstanding). Of course, Olt is better at his current position (3B) than Braun or Gordon were, so moving him will be a little more painful. Oh, yeah... and, Mark Teixeira made the move across the diamond to 1B and has made himself passable over there.

But, we're talking about creating COFs out of what we currently have. Start with Olt.

Moreland is also passable as a COF (RF), but we don't, currently have anyone suited to be the beast at 1B for us. So, he needs to succeed... there.

There's also the chance Borbon (if he's still here) or Engel Beltre can come on and succeed. And, THEY both would help to make our outfield defense something special... Martin/Gentry could slide a little more over toward RV and cover for whomever might be manning that position.

Or, give Murph a 2 year contract with a couple of options. You just can't buy attitude like his. And, I think 3 or 4 years (age 36) wouldn't leave his tank empty.

I wouldn't be in favor of it, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Rangers bought out a year of David Murphy's free agency, given that they could get it at around $8 million. I don't think Engel Beltre is in the longterm plan, and unless we did something dumb like move Olt or Moreland to a COF spot in 2014, the only outfielders we'll have under contract are Craig Gentry (a 4th OF) and Leonys Martin.

If Murphy's 2014 can be bought on the cheap, he'd offer a little stability. If not, it makes it necessary to either (a) acquire Justin Upton, or (b) put all our chips on the table for Gioncarlo Stanton. I don't think we can get away with a subpar defensive outfield featuring Olt or Moreland, or a weak slugging outfield of Murphy/Martin/Gentry. Neither option makes much sense.

I find it presumptive to assume Olt or Moreland could amicably handle a COF role. Simply plugging them in because Ryan Braun and Alex Gordon successfully transitioned fails to take the individual into account, because Braun and Gordon are each much more athletic.

David Murphy is currently our best overall outfielder, he should be resigned. He plays not only well as a starter but can come in off the bench. A player like him is invaluable and relatively inexpensive.

David Murphy is currently our best overall outfielder, he should be resigned. He plays not only well as a starter but can come in off the bench. A player like him is invaluable and relatively inexpensive.

Eh. First, I'd still take Nelson Cruz over David Murphy if we're talking about "best overall outfielder." @ $6 million in 2013, Murphy might be a slightly better value than Cruz @ $10.5 million, but regression to the mean is almost certainly going to happen with Murph next year, and logic dictates the same for Cruz. Who knows, if Leonys Martin is the 3.0-3.5 fWAR outfielder he's expected to become, he might be better than both.

As for the whole "invaluable and relatively inexpensive" thing, you could find 2.0 fWAR OF types, which Murphy is, off the scrap heap, and for a hell of a lot cheaper than $6 million in 2013, or Tommy's $8 million figure for 2014, which I find reasonable. I think David Murphy is going to want something in the 3-year, $33-$36 million range when he hits free agency, and that's just too much for Texas for what #truegrit provides.

David Murphy is a helluva platoon player.

"i'd let arbitration take its course" is a policy so detrimental on so many levels that the Ranger's organization will do anything to avoid such team negativity. That is fundamentally why the Rangers have not had an arbitration hearing in more than a decade. Especially in the case of Murphy, that is the last thing the Rangers want. Cold easily see the Rangers signing Murphy to a 3 year / $18 to avoid the issue, which will be a very healthy salary for a solid #4 out fielder. Unless Murphy does a 30/100/;330 there is no way he even comes close to a 3/ $33-36. The odds in those numbers is about 10000 to 1. But a realistic 20/80/.300 may push Murphy as high as $8, and even that would be a career year in power and run production, and would take him playing every day. Do agree Cruz has a much higher run production capacity, is also why he is already over $10m barrier and has value going forward. Like to see what you thing the players listed on that "scrap heap"

MLB Trade Rumors just posted that the Rangers agreed to a 1 year 5.75million deal with Murph to avoid arbitration. He reprtedly asked for 6.5 and the Rangers countered at 5 and they split the difference...

Pretty much what I would have expected to happen but would it have made more sense to work on a 2 or 3 year contract with Murph? If he keeps performing then you are good but also increases his value in a trade situation.

My guess is that the Rangers didnt want to work on a longer contract coming off of his career year. So if he doesnt do as well this year they can get him cheaper but if he does continue to play at this level they are prepared to let him walk in free agency?

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8865802/texas-rangers-david-murphy-agree-1-year-contract

I really like this deal. Good chance to get a lot of value out of him in a walk year.

Hog Heaven Cotton Candy!!

les, as Txball said, David Murphy is a platoon guy. "Scrap heap" I believe are the words used by Fangraphs when discussing replacement-level players. Murphy is slightly better than that, but even guys like Craig Gentry can put up 2.0 fWAR in abbreviated roles, and for much less than $5.775 million. That's just the truth.

Eric, I don't see how you think regression is going to happen to Murphy this year. If anything, last year he finally got enough plate appearances to let the stats show what he can really do. He's CLEARLY a better value than Cruz right now given the contracts, he's hitting left handed pitching better, and hopefully he has a couple of years like last year in him. He could be a really good value and that's why the Rangers are discussing extending him.

Smart by Texas to split the difference. I think we probably won't see Murphy back if he can repeat what he did in 2012 this season. I see him going to a national league club like the Cards or Giants.

TB, Muprhy had an unsustainable BABIP last year. He will not hit .304 this year, unless he continues to get the same lucky bloops.

Face it, Eric wants us to hit 200 home runs a year so we can-oh snap! We did that last year!!! Well at least we DOUBLED SFs home run total and scoring almost...what? SF won the world series??? Wait a minute! We need to go get more hitting! Over the fences, boys!!! The only way to win the championship is to have 30 home runs at wvery place in the batting order! .......NOT!!!!!

Home runs are for the autographs, pitching wins championships. You can stack a veritable murderers row and still lose to good pitching and solid players without much flash. The only problem is that it ain't shiny and there are no fireqorks or the Lion King" song.