What in the Actual F%^&!!! The Cubs Acquire Daniel Murphy!?
I don’t get it. I really, actually, emphatically don’t get it. The Chicago Cubs are about to acquire Daniel Murphy from the Washington Nationals for virtually nothing.
Sure Murphy has a dangerous bat, great average, doubles machine if you recall the 2015 playoffs he hit homers in like eight consecutive games. He has slashed .323/.371/.526 and has averaged 36 doubles a year in his career.
All of that aside, I just don’t get why the Cubs make this move. And I’m not going to harp on his comments from a couple years back either.
Here is a team that doesn’t have a lot of miss the bat type of pitchers, and the team’s xFIP (4.35 and 9th worst in baseball) suggests that the team relies quite a bit on their strong defense. Putting Murphy, who is considered one of the worst defensive second basemen in the league creates an even smaller window for error among the Cubs hurlers.
I know a lot of fans have soured on Addison Russell over the past two seasons, and they will look at the Murphy deal as a way for the team to not play Russell daily. But for everything Russell has lacked offensively the past couple years, he has made up for defensively. Which has also kept Javier Baez at second, making the Cubs one of, if not the strongest up the middle defensive team in baseball. I just don’t know how Murphy can help with this?
Another thing this could point to, and I really hope this isn’t the case, is maybe the team doesn’t expect Kris Bryant to make it back this season after all?
Maybe there is structural damage in Bryant’s shoulder which has caused pain when he swings. This is the scariest of all scenarios as, and I don’t know if you recall, Kris Bryant is really good at baseball. He’s like in the top 10 of all players in this game.
Adding Murphy can help some with the offense, but you cannot replace the talent of Bryant with Murphy at all.
I’m going to go ahead and assume that the Cubs front office knows more about baseball than I do. I am going to assume that they know what they are doing here. I am also going to assume that there is a plan in the background for all of this.
