Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
Little Faith Murphy scooped everyone on her daddy signing with the Indians.
After free agent outfielder David Murphy agreed to terms on a contract last week with Cleveland, his 5-year-daughter, Faith, was at pre-school in Texas where she was learning about Thanksgiving. That’s when she broke the big news and startled some teachers.
“They were talking about Pilgrims and Indians,” Cleveland general manager Chris Antonetti said on a conference call. “And she said, ‘My daddy is going to be an Indian.’ That’s a first for us.”
Murphy, who spent the past seven seasons with the Rangers, finalized a $12 million, two-year contract Monday. He will receive salaries of $5.5 million next year and $6 million in 2015, and the Indians have a $7 million option for 2016 with a $500,000 buyout.
His daughter didn’t provide any more details on his contract, and Murphy said he’s looking forward to one day telling her about how she innocently announced he was Cleveland bound.
“It’s going to be a cute story someday,” Murphy said, “a funny story that we can tell her about when she’s older.”
Among the Indians’ offseason goals were to improve their depth in the outfield and increase their production against right-handed hitters. They feel they’ve addressed both needs by signing Murphy, who has a career .275 average and can play all three outfield positions.
Murphy had a down season in 2013, batting a career-low .220 with 13 homers and 45 RBIs in 142 games.
The Indians are confident he’ll put up statistics more in line with his career numbers.
“If you look at his track record, he’s been pretty consistent, especially against right-handed pitching,” Antonetti said. “We expect him to bounce back and get closer to his career norms next year.”