With the Adam Brett Walker shelved at Triple-A with an oblique injury suffered during batting practice, the Minnesota Twins announced Thursday that they’ve signed veteran outfielder David Murphy to a minor-league deal.
Contract specifics, such as an opt-out date, were not made immediately available, but Murphy gives the Twins organization an established professional hitter who can play both of the outfield corners. Murphy batted .283/.318/.421 in 391 plate appearances last season between the Indians and the Angels, and for his career has taken competent at bats against right-handed pitchers as a left-handed hitter. Over the course of his 10 seasons in the big leagues, Murphy has hit .278/.341/.454 in 3,029 plate appearances against righties.
It may also be worth noting that outfielders are last in batting average (.138), second-to-last in on-base percentage (.214) and last in slugging percentage (.181). If there was a team that could use an added boost in the outfield, the Twins would seem to qualify. To be sure, it’s unclear if the Twins view 34-year-old Murphy as an option there, or as someone to fill out the roster at Triple-A, which stood at 24 after the club activated infielder Stephen Wickens from the disabled list.
Update: Quotes from Terry Ryan
“This is a situation where a guy’s out there,” he said before Game 3 of the Twins-White Sox series. “He was in Boston’s camp this spring, as most of you know, and our reports on him were good, he’s out there as a free agent, so we signed him.”
Asked if it was a reaction to the lack of offense and an 0-8 start, he said: “Well, it’s a reaction … we’re not doing too well here, as we know, but also he was available.
“And we thought about it back in late March, when he was let go. It’s not like this was a situation when he was playing 3000 miles away from us, we certainly were watching Boston, like we do every club. And he had a decent spring.”
