One of the most lopsided trades in the wrong direction in Twins history happened in the 2015 offseason, when Minnesota traded outfielder Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy.
With the Yankees, Hicks has become a version of the player the Twins always hoped he could be. Murphy? He played in 26 games at the start of the 2016 season, and the catcher was so dreadful the Twins banished him to the minors.
He never returned to the big club and was traded to Arizona in the middle of last season. I kind of forgot about Murphy at that point and assumed his career would just fizzle out. But I was watching a random Diamondbacks game Monday night, and who do I see at the plate? Murphy.
Not only that, but the ESPN broadcasters start talking about him and announce that with eight homers in 91 plate appearances he has the highest home run rate in the majors this year. Amazing.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
