David Murphy leaves Rochester

[Mike Sixel]

Ryan needs to go. This is a clincher for me.

[d-mac]

Unfortunately you gave Terry Ryan far to much credit with this guess.

He told reporters today that Hicks was out righted off the 40 man to clear a spot for Murphy

This front office is the baseball equivalent of an Internet meme at this point.

[Vanimal46]

How does TR go through with making this move without asking Murphy about his commitment first?

[Thrylos]

 

Yeah... I'm reading the Twitter Feed

 

I'm hoping Nick or Seth or John can dig some more on this. 

 

It may not be important to some... But this is reputation rocking to me.  

 

Reputation rocking?

 

Gee.

 

You led your favorite baseball team to as many titles as Ryan did the last 21 years.

 

What reputation?

[d-mac]

I truly believe TRyan is making it up as he goes, so I can't say I'm all that surprised. Equally horrified in the process and decision making from the man in charge, yet just not that surprised

He's always been a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type. He has never had a plan. The Twins are the least process oriented organization in baseball. Look at what Houston, the Cubs, and even what the Phillies have done with their rebuilds. At this point I would honestly not be surprised that the Braves win a playoff series before the Twins do.

[Twinfan & Dad]

Imagine that another Terry Ryan idea not working out. Lets wait for the next desperation move.

[Otto von Ballpark]

It's not a quote. But this is the original tweet from Mike Berardino:

 

"Losing John Hicks on waivers was done in anticipation of calling up David Murphy, Terry Ryan said. That was the plan until convo w/Murphy."

 

So yeah, we may be missing the exact quote, but this isn't hearsay, this was reported by a reporter directly after his conversation with Ryan

Wow. Shades of Bartlett asking to retire in 2014, and the Twins telling him to sleep on it over the weekend...

[scottz]

I wish I would have had that convo with Murphy before I bought this Murphy jersey.

[Danchat]

 

I wish I would have had that convo with Murphy before I bought this Murphy jersey.

Just pretend it's a John Ryan Murphy jersey... wait... you might want to wait until he plays a little better.

[twinsnorth49]

According to Murphy, he said that he wants to spend more time with his family and that his heart was not in baseball right now

So, you're saying it ended up being something that actually made sense?

 

Shocking.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Yeah this is twice now (that I can think of). When your free agent signings are actually retiring rather than playing for you, maybe you should rethink your free agent evaluations. 

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

My head is going to start bleeding soon from the head scratching I'm doing. 

 

...

 

This explains so much!

 

[Riverbrian]

 

Reputation rocking?

 

Gee.

 

You led your favorite baseball team to as many titles as Ryan did the last 21 years.

 

What reputation?

 

Yeah... Reputation Rocking

 

I have my own way of looking at things. 

 

I don't blame people for not thinking like me but this one is under my skin. 

[USAFChief]

It really doesn't matter to me that Murphy chose to go home, what matters is losing the only other C on the 40 man to make a spot for him.

 

That's wrong in and of itself. I have nothing against David Murphy, but he isn't the direction the Twins should be voluntarily going.

[ashbury]

Yeah... Reputation Rocking

 

I have my own way of looking at things. 

 

I don't blame people for not thinking like me but this one is under my skin. 

Mike Quade seems like he could come in for some of the blame, if Ryan got blindsided by Murphy retiring. Surely the Rochester manager was told explicitly of the plan for Murphy when the signing occurred. If he had any inkling that Murphy was leaning that direction, he needed to send that info up the ladder pronto.

 

And if Murphy kept the decision entirely to himself, despite knowing whatever Ryan and Quade may have told him or implied to him, then his hands aren't entirely clean either. Maybe players, even veterans, just don't have the other-mindedness to realize, "I'm not on the 40-man, so if I do get promoted then someone else has to be dropped, and that process takes a few days - I can't just drop this on them."

 

Ultimately the buck stops with Ryan. I just doubt that it's as simple as being made out here.

[SirLoin]

I'd like to personally thank David Murphy....For saving the Twins front office from themselves.

 

 

Considering Suzuki seems to take a foul ball off his face at least four times a game, wouldn't it make sense to use the open 40-man roster spot on a catcher like Stuart Turner, who has been showing some promise at AA?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Considering Suzuki seems to take a foul ball off his face at least four times a game, wouldn't it make sense to use the open 40-man roster spot on a catcher like Stuart Turner, who has been showing some promise at AA?

They can add Turner, or any catcher, at a moment's notice if one of their MLB catchers get injured.  No need to add them in advance of that.  I actually don't mind carrying only 2 catchers on the 40-man roster, assuming you don't have 3 catchers worth rostering.

 

Turner will require 40-man protection this winter (Rule 5 draft), as will Mitch Garver, so both could be options later in the season regardless.  But probably not in April/May unless, like I said, a MLB catcher gets injured (or Murphy's play continues to be untenable).

[tobi0040]

 

Dang. David Murphy didn't want to play for the Twins. 

 

Interesting vantage point.  Sad, but interesting.

 

Also, what the heck are we going to do without David Murphy?

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

Interesting vantage point.  Sad, but interesting.

 

Also, what the heck are we going to do without David Murphy?

I shudder to think. 

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

 

They need a starting catcher and a back up catcher.

Trade Plouffe for the best catcher you can find and quit the ridiculous right field gong show of playing Sano in the outfield.

 

I liked this idea in December.

[tobi0040]

 

We can slice and dice this a million ways.  But what we lack right now is talent.  We have tons and tons of quantity and literally nobody is stepping up and we have a GM that can't sort it all out and add up to 25 or 40 with the appropriate combination.

 

Guys like Buxton and Rosario could have stepped up and claimed the LF and CF spots for the next decade and they didn't.  Duffey didn't claim his spot.  Gibson isn't claiming his spot.   Jepsen isn't claiming the closer role, or May the 8th inning role.   And the GM has filled most of the other roles with fillers that aren't going to be claiming much of anything and we have fillers in spades.  The issue is we keep moving the fillers around and hoping for a different result.

 

What we need is another approach.  I would suggest some trading.  Between young prospects that we have and young and promising guys on the MLB squad, we have tons and tons of possibilities.

 

If we can package Plouffe for a really good 8th ining guy or future closer and move Sano to 3B.  I think you do that.  Because mark my words, Plouffe is going to be average-ish the next year or two and we are going to dump him next July for nothing.   If we can move one of our 5 OF not named Buxton or Sano for an actual catcher, I think you have to do that.  And so on.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Murphy is a corner outfielder and left handed bat. Logically, the player Murphy would have taken the most playing time from is Arcia, who has now won half our games for us with timely hitting.

[JaleelWhite FanClub]

This whole "Murphicks-gate" thing is embarrassing.

 

Allow me to add a little conspiracy theory to the mix.

 

With his "big" trade from the past offseason blowing up in his face, letting the viable (and performing) AAA replacement go makes it a lot easier for Mr. GM to keep JR Murphy on the big league roster. Say what you want about Hicks (Aaron that is), but his trade also opened up the mess with Buxton being forced to the Majors too early, AGAIN!.

 

So I think Mr. GM  gets a big 'F' grade for his work this offseason (not even considering how he mangled the bullpen thing, you know, his "top priority").

[SirLoin]

 

They can add Turner, or any catcher, at a moment's notice if one of their MLB catchers get injured.  No need to add them in advance of that.  I actually don't mind carrying only 2 catchers on the 40-man roster, assuming you don't have 3 catchers worth rostering.

 

Turner will require 40-man protection this winter (Rule 5 draft), as will Mitch Garver, so both could be options later in the season regardless.  But probably not in April/May unless, like I said, a MLB catcher gets injured (or Murphy's play continues to be untenable).

Even if it's just a 15-day DL?  Is that specific to catchers?

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Even if it's just a 15-day DL?  Is that specific to catchers?

Any player can be added to the 40-man and recalled immediately, at any time.  There is no in-season benefit to putting a prospect on the 40-man, but not the 25-man.

[gocgo]

The timing of all of this couldn't be more frustrating.  

 

First, we lose a game that we had won because the backup catcher can't make an accurate throw to first.  

 

Second, we outright the backup to the backup catcher off the 40 man roster and he gets snapped up by a division foe.  

 

Third, the guy that we were going to bring up to fill the spot on the 40 man roster retires.

 

This is really shaping up to be a year when the Twins can do nothing right...in a year when Joe Mauer is finally hitting.  

 

Wait!  Let's give him a contract extension!  Now that's the Twins way.

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

If they really tried to clear a spot for Murphy by trying to sneak a decent, still young 3rd catcher...then...then...I'm not even sure what to say to that.

Further, in addition to the well discussed bullpen non-moves, it just seemed SO OBVIOUS to me that the two moves the Twins absolutely should have made last off season was a 4th OF/CF option to protect/buffer Buxton AND a veteran RH OF to play with Arcia and Rosario. (Of course, this was before we got Park and Sano got placed in RF) I see Byrd off to a solid start in Cleveland and it kills me because that's one of the veteran, inexpensive but decent options I saw as a perfect fit for this team.

No offense to Park, who may turn out to be terriffic, but doesn't a solid veteran RH OF like that with Sano-Mauer-Plouffe sharing 1B-3B-DH as they did late last season just make more sense?

I just read this article today. I'm behind on this one. There are no direct quotes from Ryan, but it seems pretty damning.

 

https://puckettspond.com/2016/04/26/minnesota-twins-needlessly-lost-john-hicks-to-tigers/

 

 

[HitInAPinch]

From MLBTR:

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/04/david-murphy-retires.html

[dxpavelka]

SEE YA

[Mike Sixel]

I have great respect for people that realize they have enough money, and that spending time with family is important. It's a choice many of us have made.