Murphy: AL Rookie of the Month

by sprite on May 9, 2008 3:15 PM CDT

David Murphy won the balloting for the AL Rookie of the Month for April. An online vote of fans counts for 20 percent of the vote totals with writers and broadcasters handling the rest of the voting.

Murphy beat out Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, Detroit RHP Armando Galarraga (former Ranger) and Oakland LHP Greg Smith, who faces the Rangers tonight.

So that's two Rangers outfielders with great Aprils. Josh Hamilton was AL Player of the Month during that same period.

Murphy batted .277 with two homers and 14 RBIs in April and has been so consistent that he's gone from a "fourth outfielder" to a regular contributor in the lineup.

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/murphy-is-al-rookie-of-the-month.html

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Brandon

Boggs is next month.

Say your sorry to Ron Washington

by miles on May 9, 2008 3:18 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

+1

A Lonestar in California - 2.0

by lonestarJon on May 10, 2008 4:24 AM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

fans make up 20% of the vote?

well, we all know that 20% went to Ellsbury…

by JBImaknee on May 9, 2008 3:26 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

in all honesty

he probably deserved it. his numbers were pretty solid.

but i definitely like seeing murphy win.

Gerald Laird is my hero.

by DSheppard on May 9, 2008 3:45 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

+1

by philkid3 on May 9, 2008 6:24 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Outfield

A year ago our outfield was our weakest point. Now we have the rookie of the month and the player of the month in our outfield. Good job Rangers.

by walrus52 on May 9, 2008 3:33 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Good point...

most improved area of the team.

Although the starting pitching has been much better so far as well (especially if you take out Jennings).

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on May 9, 2008 3:36 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

they did

take out Jennings. Well, they put him on the DL anyway…

by bhudson on May 9, 2008 3:38 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

era

2nd worst in the AL.

by jordansb on May 9, 2008 3:52 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Look at the starters...

ERA this year (minus Jennings).

And do you remember April last year. I don’t think a single Rangers starter made it past the 3rd without giving up 5 runs.

"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates

by slc ranger on May 9, 2008 4:23 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

True

However, it doesn’t take much to improve from last year. Nonetheless, you are correct—the starting pitching is improving.

by jordansb on May 9, 2008 7:30 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Jamey Newberg mentioned this

today. For all the ups and downs of Jon Daniels’ regime, he’s done a great job in remaking our outfield in just one year.

re: Ann Coulter - "She doesn't get raped nearly enough." - DJ Cahill

by EssBee on May 9, 2008 4:20 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Yeah

It’s really good to right now be able to see the reasonable idea of what our outfield is going to be in the future. And it looks really, really good.

by philkid3 on May 9, 2008 6:24 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Not bad

for a 4th OF.

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on May 9, 2008 3:55 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

it's rookie of the month

you can basically put up 4th OF numbers to get the award. but still, good work

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on May 9, 2008 4:04 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

I still am not convinced he is a 4th OF

the fact that he can actually play defense gives him a chance to play everyday. Even if he was below average as a hitter, you could probably carry him on your roster. The fact that he has been above average every chance he has, has really given him a shot to lock down an everyday spot.

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on May 9, 2008 4:08 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

I agree

I don’t know why he’s still carrying the “4th OF” label. He’s our starting rightfielder.

by cmkelly29 on May 9, 2008 4:51 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

yeah, there are

45 OFs in the league who are gonna hit below average for an OF. Even if his hitting drops off, he could still be a valuable, and inexpensive piece if no one better is pushing him. Its tough for me to see who is pushing him for that spot right now.

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on May 9, 2008 5:02 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

That's the definition

of a 4th OF.

He’s definitely the anti-Botts.

by Requiem on May 9, 2008 6:26 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

No, by definition

half the “third” OFs are below average.

He is the anti-Botts. He can actually hit major league pitching.

"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck

by DJCahill on May 10, 2008 9:00 AM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Yes

And most of those OFs play good defense in CF. All the scouting reports I saw said that while he could play CF, he wasn’t even average in CF and would not be able to handle CF everyday.

And all the numbers seem to bear that out (albeit in a small sample size):

ZR in CF
2006 – .750
2007 – .850
2008 – .775

All this with a .265/.325/.456 line says to me 4th OFer.

I guess we’re agreed in one thing. He’s the anti-Botts.

I was going to leave it at that, but since you feel the need to twist my wordings to your own purpose, I’ll give the countering rational (not that I wholly subscribe to it).

He is the anti-Botts in that a small sample size of at-bats are having people proclaim that “he can actually hit major league pitching” or “he’s the next Rusty Greer”, etc.

People seem to forget the previous 1902 AB in his minor league career where he hit .273/.343/.407. But of course, 263 AB far outweighs anything they might have done previously!

It’ll be interesting to see how Murphy and Botts progress as they increase the number of at-bats they have.

Unfortunately, it looks likely that only Murphy will get the chance in Texas.

by Requiem on May 10, 2008 5:40 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

+1

Well then, me and cahill agree for once.

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on May 9, 2008 5:23 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

That's my Boy!!

Just the start of many many good things for DaMurph!

The "Electrician" was born 7/16/07 11:53 PM EDT

http://www.lonestarball.com/2007/7/16/213154/893

by LAMuscleFag on May 9, 2008 4:08 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Yep,

The Murph is DaShit!

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on May 9, 2008 5:24 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

My Friend from Boston

Is pissed. Boy, is he pissed. Not exactly sure if it’s because the Sox gave him up or that goldenboy Ellsbury didn’t win.

"Gabbard's not gonna hit Richie Sexson. You got a guy coming up there who can't hit water if he fell out of a boat. And you think hes gonna throw at HIM?" -TAG

by FuturePants on May 9, 2008 4:09 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

murphy would be a golden god in Boston

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on May 9, 2008 4:28 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

Great but

let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Those periodical rookie awards are not much of a prognosticator for future success (which is what this season is all about, right?). Especially in the American League for some weird reason.
Over the last 10 years, the only AL ROY winners worth mentioning are Ichiro and Carlos Beltran (Ichiro alone if you’re a Mets fan). The rest have either been injury-prone (Huston Street, Bobby Crosby), just plain sucked (Angel Berroa, Eric Hinske, Ben Grieve) , or not fully established themselves (Verlander stinks this year, and it’s too early to tell on Pedroia). I’m not trying to say that winning these rookie awards is bad thing, though. I just consider them meaningless when it comes to projecting a player’s career.

by chrisR on May 9, 2008 4:51 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

past 10 years, bleah

just a bad stretch for the AL.

nomar in 1997
jeter in 1996
salman in 1993
knoblauch in 1991

don’t give up on street and verlander just yet.

NL has been pretty great.
if you leave out the 2002 winner i suppose.

but i don’t think murph is gonna go on to rookie of the year. would be sweet though. he’s had a pretty rough may so far. other than those 2 games where he got a homer and 3 rbi’s…

send me nominations for the Hall of the Very Good
http://www.buchanan4pres2008.org/
NIXON: NOW MORE THAN EVER

by gossamer on May 9, 2008 5:40 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

jersey's

i was at the ballpark open week when they played baltimore and there were no david murphy jersesy to be found…....maybe this will get him one in stores

Boy that is a gutless 6’7" .200 hitting formerly good player. What a joke--TAG

by dmurphnextrusygreer on May 9, 2008 4:55 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

maybe because

they were all sold out….cause adam bought them all….to use as toilet towels.

Rare Gnats Sex

by ab03 on May 9, 2008 5:24 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

HAHA.........(Not Funny)

The bloggerformelyknownasBigBaddBubbaJ

by NYTXFAN on May 9, 2008 5:25 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

rusy greer

who the hell is that…..... poser!!

by bhuckabee on May 9, 2008 7:44 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

typo

i am not sure how to change it to spell it the right way

Boy that is a gutless 6’7" .200 hitting formerly good player. What a joke--TAG

by dmurphnextrusygreer on May 12, 2008 10:30 AM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

How did he beat out Ellsbury?

I mean, I’m really stoked that he did, but still.

by philkid3 on May 9, 2008 6:22 PM CDT reply reply 0 recs

Yeah, I'm not sure how he beat out Ellsbury

Compare:

.277/.342/.465 in 101 AB w/ 15 R, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 3 SB in mainly COF
.282/.405/.451 in 71 AB w/ 20 R, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 8 SB in CF

Seems like a no-brainer to me that Ellsbury was more valuable, though Murphy did have a fairly good April.

by Requiem on May 9, 2008 6:35 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs

No doubt, Murphy has been awesome.

This is FAR from a travesty. This isn’t Rollins over Tulowitzki for the Gold Glove. It’s just surprising and probably a bit of a stretch.

But, like so many Phillies fans admitted last year with Rollins awards sweep, I dont’ exactly agree with it as a baseball person, but I’m in love with it as a Rangers fan.

by philkid3 on May 9, 2008 6:39 PM CDT up reply reply 0 recs