On Matt Murton

David Barber is poetry editor for the Atlantic Monthly, and in the May issue he published a poem of his own entitled, “Bambino Sutra” (subscribers only). In case anyone who reads this happens to know Matt Murton, maybe you could suggest that he read the following excerpted passage:

This is the power
They write home about. This is
The house my clouts built.

Swing for the fences,
Bunyanesque. Everyone loves
A majestic blast

That defies the laws
Of matter and space, the stuff
That myths are made of.

This is the sweet spot
That runs with the grain, the snap
In the wrists that makes

The old lumber ring,
The leonine reflexes
In an ursine frame

That packs the punch that
Wins the crown for the home team
That’s built around me.

It’s not just the lack of HRs (4), or the RBIs (21) absent from Matt Murton’s bat. Those are problematic totals, but they’re not the main issue. It’s the lack of extra base hits. That’s the real number that stands out.

Among anyone who’s started with any kind of regularity for the Cubs, Murton has the least extra base hits. 13 -- that’s the number. 8 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 HRs, out of 59 hits. Even the critic-punching-bag Neifi has 9 extra base hits, and he only has 31 hits period.

That’s just not getting it done.

Remind me again... going into the season, who was the smart money on -- Cedeno or Murton? Because the only thing Murton’s done better is draw walks. Even the strikeouts are closer than you think: 44 for Cedeno, sure, but 36 for Murton, and in less plate appearances. Since they’ve both made plenty of defensive gaffes, the edge right now is clearly to the infielder.

I’m not even a huge proponent of guys who swing for the fences. I prefer the style of stringing together hits, running the bases well, stealing a few, executing hit and runs and even sacrifices, peppered in with the occasional homerun. Get the pitching and defense right, and that’s all you need, especially if as a corollary a team can keep strikeout numbers down. But you still gotta have that pepper.

Before I get too negative on Murton, I’ll align myself with everyone else and admit that I was -- and am -- pulling for Murton to make it as a big league left fielder. I liked the reports of his work ethic, and I’ve seen nothing to contradict those reports. I liked what I’ve seen with his approach at the plate. Or, I did... until he stopped lifting the ball into the air with any force, pretty much at all, ever.

It’s groundballs to all fields -- that’s what we’ve been seeing from number 19. If ever there was a time for one of the coaches to step in and say, “Hey kid, why don’t you try swinging for the fences during BP today?” it’s now. Or actually, it’s overdue.

Not that I know what I’m talking about, of course. It’s always easy for an armchair batting coach to point something out when there’s no way in the world I could hit a major league baseball at all without a galactic helping of luck. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong -- just that I’m unqualified to speak on the subject, and there is a difference. What is indisputable is that Murton has hit fewer extra base hits -- totally and proportionally -- than nearly any big league starter.

I still like his attitude, from what I’ve seen, even if was a bit nauseating the way that Len & Bob raved about his attitude to the extreme that they did in April. It seems as though he’s trying to concentrate, and while maybe he’s over-thinking a bit, I haven’t seen him get overdramatic. Or flippant, like Patterson used to seem at times. I do like that he draws walks as well, since this has been a chronic problem for all the Cubs lineups in this era. And defensively, he’s... not terrible.

But by now we should have seen more power. Not just homerun power, but at least a few more doubles to the alleys. And that means an adjustment. So whoever is responsible for making hitting adjustments happen, here’s hoping they’re on this one.

The thing is, Bynum isn’t much better. Besides which the point may be moot if he’s on the DL for a while. Maybe Bynum might have given you more speed, but speed isn’t what the Cubs need so much as men on base at all, and slugging.

And the idea of putting Nevin in left field brings up a whole other set of questions, most of which are more theoretical. As in, what’s the direction of the team, and the season? Is it worth stunting the development of Matt Murton to give you a better shot at winning games by playing Nevin, assuming Nevin is not in the long term plans? And who wants to think about that crap in June?

I have no doubt we’ll be seeing Nevin & Murton both out there once Lee is re-anchored at first base. That’s what Dusty does -- he shuffles inadequate pieces around like a kid playing with the leftover cards from a Euchre deck. The disappointment is that Murton has reached the point of being an inadequate piece.

So, the way I figure it, it’s now or never for the kid. He’s got about one week with Barrett still out, Lee still needing some recovery time some games, and Bynum on the DL. In that week -- this week -- he’s gotta catch fire and give Dusty a reason to play him 2 out of 3 games moving forward. Otherwise we’re going to see Nevin, and we’re going to have to debate those theoretical questions about the nature of the season and short versus long term gains. Either that, or we’ll witness a handicapped left-fielding hydra.

Murton has hit .206 so far in June. That’s why the matter has arrived. It was his position to lose... and he’s nearly lost it.

And I really am still pulling for him. There’s nothing I would love better than for both him and Cedeno to be solid lineup pieces for years to come. The days are already getting shorter for 2006, however, and given the tendencies and tenuousness of Dusty’s managing, I fear that Murton may fade into the shadows of the dugout for the Cubs. As likable as he is, major leaguers aren’t paid to be likable, not foremost anyway, and all Neifi data aside (28 starts for a guy with a .239 on-base percentage?) managers trying also to win contracts can’t start the slumping forever.

That’s how we come to the next line from Barber’s poem: “Swing as if this swing / Will be your last.”