The Cubs are having a rough month hitting. In August they are 10-7, but have scored just 57 runs, second-fewest in the National League.
And so, Theo Epstein and his baseball operations staff have made a trade to address that issue:
#Cubs acquiring Daniel Murphy from the #Nationals, sources tell The Athletic.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) August 21, 2018
Here’s the return to the Nats:
The Cubs will acquire Daniel Murphy in a trade with the Nationals for Andruw Monasterio. https://t.co/7CAziFT7zH
— Cubs Prospects (@cubprospects) August 21, 2018
Andruw Monasterio is 21, an infielder signed out of Venezuela in 2014. He’s currently hitting .263/.359/.336 for Advanced-A Myrtle Beach.
Daniel Murphy missed a big chunk of this year recovering from knee surgery, but has hit well since his return: .300/.341/.442 (57-for-190) with six home runs in 56 games. As has been his history, he hit well against the Cubs in the recent Nats series at Wrigley: 7-for-12 with a double and a home run. In his career, he has hit .413/.440/.702 (43-for-104) at Wrigley Field with nine doubles and seven home runs, and that doesn’t even include the dismantlement he gave to the Cubs in the 2015 NLCS while with the Mets. Of course, all his hitting at Wrigley so far has been off Cubs pitching.
Murphy does not have a good reputation as a defender, so even presuming he’ll get starts at second base, I’d expect he’d be removed for defense late in games.
No official word has come from the Cubs yet. There is an open spot on the 40-man roster, so Murphy can be added to that right away. There will need to be someone removed from the 25-man roster to make room, though it’s not clear yet whether that will be in time for tonight’s game in Detroit, but the most likely move would either be David Bote sent to Iowa (for a few days until September 1) or Addison Russell hitting the disabled list.
I’ll update this post when more info is available.
Poll
Daniel Murphy!
This poll is closed
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70%
Yea!
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6%
Nay!
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23%
Meh