So about this Murphy character

by DiegoSegui on Apr 24, 2008 4:49 PM PDT Comment 30 comments

Last year Murphy had 6 HRs in 118 ABs with the A's. In the minors he hit low double digits each year from 2004-2006.

H2N3A3 has never, at any level, hit close to the 1HR/20AB that Murphy achieved last year . Granted, he's had a higher OBP than Murphy.

On the other hand, Hannahan is 3 years older, and Murphy is at an age where he appears be able to add some muscle au natural to his frame.

Hannahan is on pace for a 30-error season or something like that as well.

Obviously we're in small sample land, but I've just never taken Murphy very seriously (something about the "Donnie" makes him seem a little like "Opie," perhaps.) But I'm curious about the pop that he's shown (and that Hannahan hasn't.) Given that we've got Barton at 1st, Suzuki at C, etc., we're going to need all the pop we can get, and maybe this is one place that there's an upgrade. Maybe.

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Murphy > Hannahan

I’ve always liked his game. He might not hit for average, but if he got 500 AB’s, I’m convinced he’d hit close to 20 bombs. I’m not sure about Murphy’s Range, but he has the best arm of all our infielders.

by Colorado Fan on Apr 24, 2008 5:06 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

His arm strength is ferocious. I’m almost hoping the A’s have to use him as an emergency pitcher at some point just so I can see him on the radar gun. I think he could hit low-90s, at least.

Speaking of this, anyone else see Chad Gaudin throw out that bunter (Span?) in yesterday’s game? Poor Barton must have thought he was catching again. The throw damn near took his hand off.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 24, 2008 5:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

That was great

It reminded me of pitching in high school and over throwing on a pick off. My first baseman tagged this kid and without skipping a beat fired the ball back to me as hard as he could. He was really mad.

"Not in your wildest alcoholic nightmare would you ever imagines such events unfolding!" Bill King

by Buck Turgidson on Apr 24, 2008 5:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

the throw also damn near took off for right-centerfield

Speaking as an ex-first-baseman, there’s nothing worse than an infielder who throws a slider to first.

And what did we do once we discovered a rift in the fourth dimension? We launched a monkey into it. @('.')@

by monkeyball on Apr 25, 2008 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Murphy's arm is great,

his glove... not so much. Not as good as Hannahan.

I have [null set] to say.

by Poppy on Apr 24, 2008 5:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Uh...

and now we get “bold” again when using asterisks instead of < b >. Did not know that.

I have [null set] to say.

by Poppy on Apr 24, 2008 5:58 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yay

for bold!

But /slashes/ and hyphens still don’t work. :-(

formerly known as mdl

by iglew on Apr 25, 2008 3:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jack H.

has 5 errors in 21 games. Thats not awesome by anyones standard.

by asfaninpismobeach on Apr 24, 2008 7:06 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

5 errors in 19 games, actually.

But who said “awesome?” From watching Hannahan, and watching Murphy, Hannahan gets to more balls. That naturally invites more errors. Hannahan actually would have had a liner that Murphy dove for and missed today (hit by can’t remember who).

And neither of them is Chavez.

I have [null set] to say.

by Poppy on Apr 24, 2008 7:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gets to more balls?

Murphy is a quality SHORTSTOP. Hannahan has horrible range as a 3B. Explain this to me.

http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/

by thejd44 on Apr 24, 2008 8:26 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't buy this for a nanosecond

I still haven’t seen one thing Hannahan does better than Murphy except draw walks. And I love walks, but I think Murphy will hit for a considerably higher average and more power and will still manage to have a higher OBP.

Hannahan could be the worst defensvie 3B in the majors right now.

http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/

by thejd44 on Apr 24, 2008 8:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Evidently you hate Hannahan for whatever reason

but this is comically absurd exaggeration here.

Troy Glaus plays third. Chone Figgins plays third. Miguel Cabrera plays third, or did until they decided he was unwithstandably bad at it. Nomar Garciaparra has been seen at the position. Garrett Atkins. Ty Wigginton. I could go on in this vein.

Hannahan may be slightly below average, but he’s not even close to the worst defensive 3B around.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 24, 2008 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Im not going to say the worst but he has been pretty horrible all around

he is on pace to make 40+ errors. That is bad but what is worse is he is batting avg .185 SLG .278 OBP .328 with 19 strikeouts. Besides taking walks what else is he good at right now? Im not saying he wont get better, Im talking about right now Murphy is the better player.

by asfaninpismobeach on Apr 25, 2008 10:06 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can't make an argument that Hannahan is better defensively than any of those guys

Except maybe Cabrera, who I think was at first recently. Maybe that was temporary.

Calling Hannahan slightly below average when he has a poor glove, poor arm, and limited range is kinda like saying that Charles Thomas got off to a slow start in 2005.

I only don’t like Hannahan because I haven’t been impressed by his minor league numbers or very much of what I’ve seen in his time with the A’s. I want him to do well, but more than that, I want other guys who I think will do better to play instead.

http://bocropleasestopswingingatbadpitches.blogspot.com/

by thejd44 on Apr 25, 2008 10:59 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Poor glove, eh?

Guess who is currently leading the league in RZR.

[Apparently I shouldn’t have been dissing Troy Glaus, though. He’s leading the NL… however, he’s the only player in all of baseball with a higher RZR than Hannahan right now.]

The hitting is an entirely different order of issue.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 25, 2008 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think it works like that

I think you have to combine the RZR and OOZ in some fashion (I don’t know how it works.) e.g., Beltre certainly is better, and some RZR + OOZ would seem to reflect that. I don’t think you can tell much of anything from the stats for Hannahan. I agree with you though, that his glove is perfectly fine, and I think better than Murphy’s at 3B.

The A's colors are green and gold.

by mikeA on Apr 25, 2008 11:28 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Alright, I'll make something up

Let’s say, Plays plus 3/4 times OOZ (since some out of zone plays can be made by other defenders) divided by Balls in Zone. Still an approximation, but whatever.

By that measure, he’s 4th behind A-Rod, Scutaro and Beltre.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 25, 2008 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hard to see how Hannahan should start

against lefties, at the very least.

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Apr 24, 2008 5:11 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was just talking about this in the game thread

right after his 1st homer. Murphy in, Mr. longname/longswing out please!

A's all the way in 08 . . . oh never mind!

by micdog2001 on Apr 24, 2008 5:43 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I like Murphy

I think he’s a serious candidate for starting SS in 2010, so I’d like to see him get plenty of ABs (and time at SS) in the meantime. Hannahan’s a better defender at third, so should be in there most of the time against Rhers, but I’d like to see Murphy get some of those starts and make the playing time 50/50.

The A's colors are green and gold.

by mikeA on Apr 24, 2008 6:05 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I always thought he sucked

But I guess he can be okay sometimes. This whole 2 HR game caused me to look at his minor league stats and I guess at this point, why not play him over Hannahan? He has more pop and has a better arm; as long as Hannahan keeps booting balls and looking lost at the plate, might as well give this guy some time.

Prince: This bores me. Is anyone up for a game of basketball?

by baseb3383 on Apr 24, 2008 7:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I was surprised how little respect Donnie's been getting

I’ve always loved the Donnie Murphy acquisition for one remarkable stat: his ARL. The remarkable thing is that Donnie is still only 25. And with BoCro’s struggles last year I was angry every time Donnie wasn’t starting against LHP; he has always had ridiculous splits against southpaws. I was almost advocating for a Melillo/Murphy platoon at 2b just to get him PT. But Ellie has won me over. His lack of offense (and I’m not saying he’s a black hole) has been made up by his defense. But the key thing with Ellie is something he’s shared with Cupcakes: we value him way more than any other team.

Anywho, Murphy is definitely a guy I want to see starting against every lefty and against some righties. He is also our designated Scutaro supersub and injury fill-in and, as much as I loved Marco, Donnie has eons more upside.

"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton

by vignette17 on Apr 24, 2008 11:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

what's "ARL"?

Never heard that one before.

formerly known as mdl

by iglew on Apr 25, 2008 3:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Age relative to level

Murphy was grotesquely rushed by the Royals, who used up his options pointlessly promoting him out of single A and the like.

It’s a sad story, but one that bad teams (see: Dee Brown, Rajai Davis, Brian Bocock) seem endlessly doomed to repeat. Desperation and impatience leads to hasty promotions, which leads to wasted options, confused and frustrated players, and eventually the waiver wire.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 25, 2008 3:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

thanks, PT

ARL, underrated commodity?

formerly known as mdl

by iglew on Apr 26, 2008 12:53 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sort of

I’m coming to the conclusion that there are two forms of cheap upside: players who were rushed and unfairly degraded for it (eg the above guys, also Gaudin, Fiorentino, etc.) and players who were always good but never given a real chance to show it (Cust, Denorfia, Jeff Keppinger, etc.).

If a bench player isn’t one of these two things, he’s basically a wasted roster spot.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Apr 26, 2008 1:04 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i have been a member of the murphy fan club since spring 07

i agree with mikea, he should get a good chunk of the time at 3b, plus a few more starts at SS and 2b.

A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05

by xbhaskarx on Apr 24, 2008 11:27 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

agreed

President of the Joey Devine fan club as of 1/15/08. Accepting applications for other positions. "He has no equivalent." -Paul DePodesta on Jeremy Brown

by flipgatey3 on Apr 25, 2008 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The best thing about Murphy's game yesterday

is that it seems like his injured finger has healed. My guess is that he would have been playing more if he and Cust hadn’t collided a few weeks ago.

I agree that he should be playing more—Crosby and Ellis can’t play every day, anyway, Murphy will likely be more effective if he gets more regular ABs (and innings at unfamiliar positions), and it’s possible that he’ll end up being more than just Super-Sub.

"And Julio Franco is batting right-handed!" -- Wayne Hagin, A's radio play-by-play, mid-80s

by Nick on Apr 25, 2008 7:36 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think a platoon makes sense...

... but Murphy isn’t going to set the world on fire with his bat. This is a pretty understandable reaction given his performance yesterday—and given Rue McHannahan’s (I’m sticking with it) struggles at the plate—but he performed exactly as his talent dictates he should: he came off the bench in a utility role and provided a little pop.

42 games might be a small sample size, but a .290 OBP last season gives me at least some pause.

by Joey C. on Apr 25, 2008 3:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs