Nats sign Daniel Murphy
- Thread starter MakMan44
- Start date
The bowtie confirms:
Ken Rosenthal
@Ken_Rosenthal
Source: Daniel Murphy in agreement with #Nationals on three-year deal, pending physical. First reported: @JimBowden_ESPN
Ken Rosenthal
@Ken_RosenthalSource: Daniel Murphy in agreement with #Nationals on three-year deal, pending physical. First reported: @JimBowden_ESPN
You know that they already back filled his position, right? There was no room for him.
The Mets essentially traded Jon Niese ($9M, signed for one season plus two team options) for Neil Walker (should make around $10M this year in arbitration, FA after this year) and got an extra first rounder for losing Murphy. They didn't need Niese and this leaves 2B open in 2017 for Dilson Herrera or more likely, Asdrubal Cabrera once they realize he can't competently play SS.
I mean going into the offseason with their plans. He was a major fan favorite and the deal he ended up with isn't long enough to totally block any prospects (especially since he can play first as needed if something came up with Duda). Just seems surprising they didn't try harder.
I don't get the issue given my post above. Walker is arguably a better player both offensively and defensively than Murphy (Walker has a career 113 OPS+, Murphy a 110+, and we all know Murphy is a shitty defender), the Mets like Herrera, and they got an extra first round pick out of the exchange. Herrera will be 22 when next season starts, it makes a lot more sense to block him for one year as opposed to three or four. He lost prospect status because of his MLB playing time last year, but BA had him as the #46 prospect in all of MLB going into last season.
People really need to constantly keep in mind that more than half of major FA signings end up being mistakes, maybe as many as two-thirds. I don't think the Mets are broke or crying broke, they offered Zobrist more than he ended up taking from the Cubs (4/60 to 4/56). I think it is very smart to be exceedingly careful with FA signings these days (although I have my doubts about Zobrist being a good investment at this point), and clearly once Zobrist chose the Cubs, the Mets preferred the Niese for Walker move over signing Murphy or Kendrick to 3 or 4 years.
The Cabrera signing seems pretty dumb to me, though. They should have been prioritizing defense when adding another SS, and Cabrera is the opposite of that.
People really need to constantly keep in mind that more than half of major FA signings end up being mistakes, maybe as many as two-thirds. I don't think the Mets are broke or crying broke, they offered Zobrist more than he ended up taking from the Cubs (4/60 to 4/56). I think it is very smart to be exceedingly careful with FA signings these days (although I have my doubts about Zobrist being a good investment at this point), and clearly once Zobrist chose the Cubs, the Mets preferred the Niese for Walker move over signing Murphy or Kendrick to 3 or 4 years.
The Cabrera signing seems pretty dumb to me, though. They should have been prioritizing defense when adding another SS, and Cabrera is the opposite of that.
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Also it's not like Murphy was WAS's first option, even at this price. They tried to trade for Brandon Phillips last week before that fell through over him asking for incentives to accept the deal. Heyman just tweeted that the WAS front office was mixed on Murphy even at this price:
