Friday, February 5, 2016

Orange Guy Returns...Sort Of

The Cubs announced yesterday that they are bring back Orange Guy Matt Murton.  He was signed to a minor league deal and will be going to Mesa as a non-rostered invitee.  The outfield is already pretty crowded, so it will be interesting to see if he can earn a spot.

At one time he was an up and coming young star.  He hit .321 over the second half of 2005 and .297 with 13 HRs in 2006.  He started slipping in 2007 and the Cubs signed Kosuke Fukudome for 2008.  Murton  was squeezed out of playing time and was traded to the A's in July, 2008.   

He finished the year with the A's and then was signed by the Rockies for 2009.  His year with the Rockies was split between Colorado and AAA.  He was released after the season.

Since then he has been a star with Hanshin in the Japanese League.  He's got a .306 average over the past six seasons. At 34 years old, it seems to be now or never for a return to the major leagues.



This would be my favorite Matt Murton.  I don't know if Topps did it on purpose, but I love the orange background for the guy with orange hair.

I've got a total of 14 cards of Matt Murton.  I thought there would have  been more.  We'll see if I get to add a new one in 2016.


3 comments:

  1. Matt Murton. That's a blast from the past. Hope he can make it back to the Bigs.

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  2. Matt's definitely a longshot but I'm pulling for him. If he shines in Spring Training he may at least get look from another team.

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  3. I have to think if he's hitting at all in Iowa then he'll be the first one up if a corner outfielder goes down with an injury.

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