Blue Days for Orange Guy

Today’s hopelessly biased Tribune notes that Matt Murton could be losing his regular left field gig. His overall numbers are OK (.269 BA, .339 OBP). Unfortunately, he hasn’t done a whole hell of a lot in the last month or so. As Sully helpfully notes in his piece, Orange Guy is hitting .213 since May 29, and has only four RBIs since April 29. Although Murton’s doing better than, say, phenom Brian Anderson, it’s hard for a team already hard-up for offense to carry that kind of non-production.

Murton might be a candidate for a platoon – he’s hitting .228 against righties (in 145 ABs), as opposed to his .375 average against lefties (56 ABs). Freddie Bynum has been getting more playing time against right-handers recently, and Baker has hinted that some sort of platoon arrangement is in the works.

Sully efficiently lists Murton’s faults – besides his slumping bat, he’s a “defensive liability” with a weak arm. Even so, if Murton gets benched (or even shipped back to Des Moines), look for a chorus of “Dusty hates young players” to ring from the punditocracy.

Why the rush to judgment? In the world according to Sully, it will be either Bynum or Murton drawing the short straw when Derrek Lee gets off the DL. Bynum is out of options, and would most likely not clear waivers.

There is another option, although it’s doubtful Hendry will choose this course. He can always can Neifi Perez and his .224 OBP, and then keep both Murton and Bynum for the LF platoon. Murton might not be hitting now, but he’s got a better chance of being a viable Major League hitter next year than Perez does.