1:06pm: The Mariners have announced the trade. To make room for Murphy on the 25-man roster, Freitas has indeed been optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.
12:55pm: The Mariners will send minor league righty Jesus Ozoria to the Giants in return for Murphy, according to Greg Johns of MLB.com. The 20-year-old Ozoria has yet to pitch above Rookie ball but logged 49 1/3 innings of 2.19 ERA ball there last season. Ozoria turned in a brilliant 59-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time and paired it with a 39.3 percent grounder rate. He’s a long way from MLB readiness but seemingly adds a live arm to the lower levels of the organization. The long-term question will be one of whether Ozoria carries more value than righty Merandy Gonzalez, whom the Giants designated for assignment when claiming Murphy; the move, in essence, swaps those two pitchers out while also clearing a spot on the Giants’ 40-man roster.
7:20am: The Mariners have reached a deal to acquire catcher Tom Murphy from the Giants, reports MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). San Francisco claimed the out-of-options Murphy from the Rockies earlier this week but did not carry him on the Opening Day roster, ultimately designating him for assignment just days after initially claiming him. Seattle has an open 40-man roster spot, so a corresponding move isn’t a necessity.
Currently, Omar Narvaez and David Freitas are the only catchers on Seattle’s 40-man roster, so Murphy figures to supplant Freitas as the primary backup/platoon partner for Narvaez. Freitas has options remaining and can freely be sent to Triple-A without first being placed on waivers.
Murphy, 28 next week, was once considered to be among the game’s top catching prospects but hasn’t produced at the plate in limited Major League opportunities across the past couple of seasons (.188/.221/.325 in 122 plate appearances). The Rockies, who owe veteran Chris Iannetta nearly $5MM through contract’s end, opted for a more defensive-minded second catcher in Tony Wolters when they cut Murphy loose.
Murphy, however, isn’t a poor defender by most measures. He sports average caught-stealing rates in both the Majors and minors throughout his career, and while he’s not a standout in terms of pitch framing, he’s been a bit above average in that regard over the past three seasons combined. At the plate, Murphy raked at a .266/.341/.608 clip through his first 88 plate appearances from 2015-16. He has a career .286/.335/.567 batting line across 875 Triple-A plate appearances, including a .258/.333/.568 slash in 264 PAs a year ago.
*to the tune of the Brady Bunch theme so g*
This is the story, of a man named Murphy, who’s been on three teams in a week.
One plays where pots legal, ones got rings, and the other ones got a trade centric dude.
This could have been better but good effort.
pot’s legal in CA too.
…and Washington, and Colorado
Easy fix considering.
Only plays where pot is legal, for teams with rings or a trade centric dude.
(Not my opinion, simply helping out a musical fellow)
And Michigan
Cool name all the legal states. He hasn’t played in all of those.
Soon to be legal in NY and NJ (or so they say)
funny thing is youd think it was already given your posts.
boom. roasted.
Be nice to Xabial, I like his posts. But, that was funny…lol
2 Downvotes
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nice, called this in the original article. not a bad pick up for the Ms
That’s awesome bro! Do you win a prize or something? Hopefully it’s something for cool bros!
Chill, bro. It’s okay for people to be engaged.
Nah man, just stoked I was able to guess correctly on a Major League transaction. Makes me feel like I’m doing okay on this whole fan thing and how baseball is working. Sorry to bring a black cloud on your day, not my intention
Well done! Pretty solid call. Wouldn’t have guessed it at all.
Shocking DiPoto made a trade! Must have been itching since his season started a week early and he hadn’t made a trade!
Maybe yesterday was to much fun for Dipoto and he has decided to go into full win now mode(no, I don’t really think the Mariners are going into win now mode).
He’s going to loathe August with no trades.
Dipoto will probably be prepping his fantasy hockey squad by then – prime trading season! Heck, maybe he’s a football fan too.
I bet he REALLY wants to be the GM of the new Seattle hockey expansion team!! LOTS and LOTS of transactions to be made
Dipoto would make McPhee’s expansion trades look amateur.
I wish he would have gotten more of a look from the Rockies. All he ever did in AAA was crush the ball, and he’s got a solid arm. Was never really given regular playing time to get himself established. Hopefully that changes with the M’s.
Hopefully the Giants get an outfielder for him but I doubt it
This is an example of why they need an agreement allowing players to go over seas for 1-4 seasons. The MLB team retains control, the player makes more money (usually) and gains service time (half a year), while the team gets some money for him. Playing everyday alone could make a large difference, plus a slightly different game is played in Japan for instance, but mainly a fresh coaches eyes could unlock some things. I’ve brought it up a couple times on different places but let me know what you guys think.
i think its a great idea, but the foreign leagues may need to increase their allowment of foreign players on their rosters first.
From a Seattle perspective, I hope 20-year-old righthander Jesus Ozoria is not the next Freddy Peralta or Pablo Lopez (or Luiz Gohara or Ryan Yarbrough or Nick Neidert).
most of those players were above foreign rookie ball when they were traded. this guy’s already 20 and is really a lottery pick.
22-year-old Freddy Peralta, the No. 2 starter for a good Milwaukee team, had never played above rookie ball when the Mariners traded the righthander to the Brewers in December 2015.
23-year-old Pablo Lopez, the No. 3 starter in Miami, was pitching at High A when the Mariners traded the righthander to the Marlins in July 2017.
22-year-old Luiz Gohara had not pitched above Single A when the Mariners traded the lefthander to the Braves in January 2017.
22-year-old Nick Neidert had not pitched above High A when the Mariners traded the righthander to the Marlins in December 2017.
But they had all pitched in the states.
I know next to nothing about Jesus Ozoria but have have a hard time imagining the Mariners made the right decision in trading him for Tom Murphy. Seattle (Dipoto) has largely been burned on trading low minors pitching prospects since he’s taken over, so I am used to anticipating the worst.
What low minor pitchers had he been burned on? I don’t think you can say any of them because none have made it to the majors. Did he lose on a few traded yes but he has won on way more than her has lost. He has made a dumpster fire minor system respectable.
Freddy Peralta is the No. 2 starter in Milwaukee and Pablo Lopez is the No. 3 starter in Miami.
Peralta for Lind was a bad move. De Los Santos for Benoit was mostly a bad move. Neidert for Gordon hasn’t paid off (though he was in AA). Lopez is in the rotation for Miami as well. I’m no expert, but I feel like those are some prominent examples.
More Zaidi “Lightning in a Bottle.”
Ozoia 59 to 7 KO walk rate in 49 1/3 Innings in any League is worth Zaidi playing Roulette with Catchers or any other position,if your paying attention,Zaidi is slowly building the Farm System to make a Deeper team in the Future which may or may not pay off this year,good things take time
I knew Kratz was going to get some playing time when he made the roster but actually seeing his name in the lineup is a new level of depressing.
Hes just a place holder until Vogt is ready. Does it really matter though ? This team has so many bigger issues than catcher. You’re right though, seeing this ridiculous lineup go from paper to the field is disheartening.
Is Glen Allen Hill available? Maybe give Kevin Mitchell a call. This is the most embarrassing lineup I can remember in a long time.
You have a bad memory or your 5 years old