They gave him playing time in 2006, and liked what they saw. The problem: the team as a whole was terrible and they needed more offense (and better pitching). They signed Soriano because he would definitely improve the team. Soriano is a better player than Murton, so this isn’t some indictment of Murton’s abilities. The Cubs got better for signing Soriano, but Murton was now a completely redundant set of skills: a RH LF and (debatable) defender on a team that just committed 136M to a much better RH LF and (debatable) defender. They couldn’t keep a spot on the bench for Murton when he didn’t provide anything that their starting LF didn’t have; it’s a basic principle of constructing an effective bench.

The Cubs held Murton hostage from ‘07 to ‘08. He was inevitably going to get traded, it was just a matter of finding the right deal. Even though he had no long term value to the Cubs, the Cubs knew he was a useful major league player and weren’t going to GIVE him away for nothing; there was no incentive to do that. He couldn’t make THEIR 25 man roster for the reasons cited, but he was certainly good enough to make SOMEONE’S. That someone was just never willing to pay the Cubs’ asking price. It wasn’t the Cubs’ solemn duty to trade him to a team that had the perfect role for him to fill.

I don’t know what the circumstances he’s faced in Oakland or Colorado have been, so I won’t speak for what conclusions those organizations may have drawn. I’ll just build on Sky’s line from a couple posts up, a league average player IS valuable (especially a cheap one); Murton’s problem is that his organizations have expected/wanted/needed more than a league average player to fill his spot on the roster.

You might not like the way Murton gets things done on offense or defense, but both his minor league numbers and his major league numbers show that he produces on both sides of the ball. So to argue he’s not going to be good going forward, you have to explain how things are going to change from what’s already happened. Because what’s already happened is that Murton’s performed like a league-average MLB player.

Best anti-Murton stuff in this thread is about his “reliance” on infield hits so far, showing his MLB numbers might be a bit overrated. Maybe someone can expand on that…

He was sent to the Cubs in a crazy 4 team trade in 2004. He was drafted by the bosox in 2003. His first majors experience came in 2005 with the Cubs, who don’t particularly develop players.

His debut was 2 years after he was signed, to the day.

If the Cubs let him develop in the minors rather than plug away on the Northside as an amateur and then pine it in the dugout or take the trip to Iowa often enough to unicycle it by heart… he may have had a better shot at being more than an Oakland A’s mistake.

Teams should be more cautious about who they take away from the Cubs because I don’t see them having a focus below the 25-man roster.

Also hes a career 313 BABIP off of only a 16.8% LD rate. Yes, he hits grounders like mad, so his eBABIP is going to be a bit more than LD+120, but thats the point, he doesn’t bring a lot of value as a groundball hitting, powerless, defensively blah 27 yr old corner OF.

There definitely was reason for high expectations for Murton 04-06, but that was a long time ago and he hasn’t progressed. Now hes just a 27 yr old putting up 350 wOBAs in AAA. Sorry if thats nothing to get excited about, regardless of what hes done in the first 11 games of the season.

I can understand the concerns about his bat, but I really don’t see the questions about his defense. He’s obviously not flashy or fast, but he really covers the ground out there. Maybe he loses points in the eyes of some because he’s not a burner out there. He doesn’t necessarily look all that impressive out there at first glance, but maybe a second and third look reveals something else. Obviously, his arm isn’t great, but I agree with Dave Cameron in that the stats show that he can go get it in the field. Over the past 3 years, Murton is a +10 in the Fielding Bible Runs Saved, trailing Soriano (+42), Crawford, Harris, Johnson, Byrnes, Brown, and Diaz (+11). Of course, it’s more impressive considering that Murton hasn’t been an everyday player over the last three years, but still stacks up well. As Dave mentioned, he rates well under the UZR metric (+11.3) as well.

Personally, I really think he’s undervalued. Teams like my Reds, the inept Pirates, or the Padres with their massive outfield could all use him. As the new metrics reveal defense to be more and more important, players like Murton have good value, especially if he can hit something like .285/.350/.450, which is close to his career slash line.

I was really displeased when the Reds passed on him, as they need better defense and more righthanded bats.

Anyway, my $.02.