Muffy / Nats

[batmagadanleadoff]

Daniel Murphy gets the 538.com treatment. Lotsa links and graphs and data. Especially data.


What The Hell’s Gotten Into Daniel Murphy?

By Neil Paine
Filed under MLB

excerpt:

When theretofore ordinary second baseman Daniel Murphy turned into the reincarnation of Babe Ruth during last year’s playoffs, it was a fun story. Murphy was with the New York Mets through their lean, mediocre post-Madoff years, and he was suddenly the driving force behind their surprise World Series run. It seemed proof that in a handful of baseball games, damn near anything can happen. But for the sabermetrically minded (which presumably included the Mets’ front office), Murphy was still the decent-but-not-great player that his overall record said he was, and at age 30, he was likely on the downside of his career. So during the winter, the Mets moved on from Murphy to Neil Walker at second base — which, according to the stats, was basically the right call. Murphy signed with the Washington Nationals instead, and although projections suggested that he would have a solid season, there didn’t seem to be any way that he would build on his outlier postseason performance. Those projections have turned out to be flat-out wrong. Instead of reverting to his previous form, Murphy has looked an awful lot like the guy who went on that postseason tear: He currently ranks third in the National League in Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+)1 and fourth in wins above replacement. (Murphy has also hit Mets pitching especially hard this year, delivering what already ranks as the most RBIs by a player against a team he played for the previous season since 1960.) For a guy who has never ranked higher than 37th in WAR, Murphy has taken a quantum leap forward. If Murphy maintains his current wRC+ for the entire season, it will be the 21st-biggest single-season improvement by a hitter over his previous career wRC+ at age 31 or older2 since 1901:

read all of it here:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-the-hells-gotten-into-daniel-murphy/

[G-Fafif]

During last night's Snighcast, Steve Gelbs described Kevin Long's awe at being in the midst of so many great hitters discussing their craft at the ASG. The one point of admiration upon which they could all agree, Long told Gelbs, was...and I was thinking this is usually where you learn they're all fans of Tony Gwynn or somebody on that level...Daniel Murphy.

There goes the greatest ex-Met hitter who ever lived.

[Guest themetfairy]

With two outs in the bottom of the 9th and Pittsburgh up 1-0, Daniel Murphy's pinch hit home run ties the game.

He's the gift that keeps giving....

[Lefty Specialist]

Boy, Murph's on another planet. Oh well.

[Frayed Knot]

All that after Murph had not started in three straight games since the break on account of a hammy he supposedly got during the AS game.
Wonder if Nats fans were demanding that he be DL'd?
Meanwhile, any rumors of Murph being seen at Robert Johnson's crossroads?


Pirates just had a two-out double in the 16th (high off the wall in CF) and the potential winning run was thrown out at the plate.
And now it looks like it's Niese's game from here on out as he comes in for the bottom 16 -- oe. just got the side 1-2-3 and it's on to the 17th and Oliver Perez in the battle of the one-time Mets!

[Lefty Specialist]

Buccos won in the 18th, 2-1.

[Edgy MD]

I was wondering how Daniel Murphy looked as an MVP candidate.

Baseball-reference doesn't have him in the top ten in the league in WAR. Fangraphs has him at #3.

Well, sixth counting pitchers, but still.