Nats make Murphy signing official and per our source that we quoted last week Erik Davis was DFA’d.
It’s been no secret that Daniel Murphy was acquired via Free Agency on December 24th as Jim Bowden broke the news. The initial news of the acquisition came as a bit of a surprise to many as even Ken Rosenthal said that Murphy was a low priority for the Nats, but after the Brandon Phillips deal dissolved Rizzo went back to his priority of getting that lefty bat which he accomplished with this signing as the cost to acquire a middle infielder through a trade was too high.
Daniel murphy: 8M '16, 12M '17, 17.5M '18. 3M deferred from '18 #nats $37.5M total
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 6, 2016
This Murphy signing opens the way for a trio of Espinosa, Drew and Turner to compete for the shortstop position although most feel Turner opens the season in AAA.
The Wednesday physical made this Murphy deal official after an almost full 2 week delay attributed to the holiday schedule which was really in part to give Rizzo time to work out a trade. The corresponding roster move was Erik Davis who was DFA’d as expected since no trade was made to reduce the 40 man roster to the necessary 39 to accommodate Murphy without a DFA (Designated For Assignment).
The Murphy signing comes with a high cost attached as the Nats had to forfeit the coveted 17th pick in the 2016 draft as the signing penalty to acquire a protected Free Agent which will give the Mets a sandwich pick after the 1st round as compensation.
A press conference at Nats Park is Thursday at 12:15PM according to Bill Ladson.
UPDATED: 1/6/2016 2:05PM: Our source says Rizzo absolutely does not want to DFA for Brian Goodwin to make room for Stephen Drew. Standby on that as we understand Drew has also passed his physical and his signing could be official shortly.
UPDATED: 1/6/2016 4:55PM: Obviously old news now, the trades never happened and Taylor Hill as most in our community predicted was the 2nd player today who was DFA’d to make room for Stephen Drew who was also officially named to the Washington Nationals.
