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When they swapped Aaron Hicks for him, the Twins spoke of Murphy's upside with the bat. Indeed, it was his offensive potential that made Murphy a second-round pick out of high school back in 2009, when questions still surrounded his defensive position.
At the time of the trade, Murphy was coming off a season in which he posted a .734 OPS over 172 plate appearances as New York's backup catcher. He was also reasonably productive in the minors, so Murphy looked like a safe bet to at least hold his own in the batter's box.
At no point since coming over to Minnesota has he even come close to doing so.
Murphy endured an awful spring, going 5-for-36 with zero extra- base hits in the Grapefruit League. OK, only exhibition games, no reason for panic. Then, the season started, and he went 3-for-40 over the first month. A bit more concerning, but still a small sample for a guy maybe pressing with his new team.
He was sent to Triple-A in early May, and his performance there is what truly saps any sense of enthusiasm surrounding his abilities. In 68 games with Rochester, Murphy owns a horrendous .209/.264/.279 slash line. In 239 plate appearances, he has mustered one homer and 12 doubles. After showing some signs of life in June (.802 OPS) he has gone back in the tank, with a .195 average and .438 OPS since July 1st.
Because the Yankees kept Murphy up as their backup catcher for the entirety of 2015, he still has an option left for 2017, meaning the Twins can afford to be patient with him in terms of control. But, in other regards, they really can't.
They've watched him flail away as a 25-year-old in the International League for four months now. And this week they promoted Mitch Garver to Rochester. Garver is one of the organization's most legit internal options and needs reps behind the plate, so he figures to get at least an equal timeshare the rest of the way. That leaves Murphy as an aging part-time minor-league catcher -- clearly not any kind of credible solution for next year.
So what is Rob Antony, or whoever succeeds him at GM, to do? Kurt Suzuki has no chance at reaching the 465 PA threshold that would have activated his 2017 option, so he's set to become a free agent. If he finishes strong he'll be one of the better options in a thin catching market so he'll likely require another multi-year deal.
Going down that road with a 33-year-old who has nearly 10,000 innings logged at the game's most punishing position would be unwise. Going all-out for one of the top free agents like Wilson Ramos or Matt Wieters would be out of character, but perhaps a nice opportunity for the newly arranged front office to make a statement. We'll see about that one.
If there's one thing that has played out favorably with Minnesota's dire catching situation this year, it has been the emergence of Juan Centeno. The 26-year-old came up when Murphy was sent down and has shown all the traits of a quality backup. He's a solid receiver, he makes contact at the plate and he's even got a bit of pop.
But a backup is not what the Twins are seeking. It's not what they were seeking when they dealt for Murphy. They were hoping to sneakily pluck away a starter from another organization, and sadly that approach fizzled. Now, it's back to the drawing board, with an even greater sense of urgency than they felt a year ago.
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