In a new award that I helped plug a few days ago, David Murphy was named AL Rookie of Month for April. This is a new award, I guess to complement the player of the month award. However, this one is voted on by the fans (hence my plug), and is sponsored (at least for now) by Gillette razors.
Given Murphy’s barely qualifying as a rookie in 2008 (due to him having 105 at bats in 2007 – as well as 22 in 2006), I wondered if fans of the runners up (Jacoby Ellsbury in Boston, Armando Galarraga in Detroit, and Greg Smith in Oakland) would whine about his “rookie” status. I took a peek at those teams’ official forums, and didn’t see anything.
Still, rookie status aside, you cannot argue with Murphy’s performance in April. It was fantastic. He played good defense, he was hitting the ball all over the place. It was the kind of performance you like to see out of veterans – not the kind you expect from your rookies & kids. This has turned out to be a great trade for us – Eric Gagne did nothing for Boston, and we got Murph, Gabbard, & Engel Beltre. Thank you Theo Epstein for that one.
That gives Murph the head-start on the AL RoY award… and, he may need it – Boggs’ll quickly overtake him if he keeps up *his* current pace.
Anyone see that coming?