Daniel Murphy Signs Minor League Contract With Angels

The veteran thought he was retired after the 2020 season, but now he’s giving the game one more shot.

Daniel Murphy is one step closer to an unlikely MLB comeback. 

Murphy, who last played in the majors in 2020 with the Rockies, has signed a minor-league contract with the Angels. The signing was announced by Michael Pfaff, the general manager of the independent Long Island Ducks, for whom Murphy began playing this season after two years out of baseball. 

Murphy, 38, is a three-time All-Star who was a key part of the Mets’ 2015 National League pennant-winning team. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the NLCS that year after hitting home runs in each of the four games as New York swept the Cubs. He had seven home runs that postseason, all in the Mets’ first two series. 

He signed with the Nationals ahead of the 2016 season and finished second in MVP voting that year after leading the NL in slugging and OPS. 

Murphy’s career appeared to be over after he posted the worst statistics of his career in 40 games for Colorado during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He became a free agent after the season and did not sign with another team. He spent the next two years believing he was retired before returning to the New York area to sign with the Ducks of the independent Atlantic League this season. 

“My goals are to come out here every day and be as good a teammate as I can and play the game properly, play the game how David Wright taught me how to play it,” Murphy told the New York Post in May. “As far as what happens outside of that, I’m completely open to a new challenge, and I’ll keep playing as hard as I can for as long as they’ll have me.”

Murphy played well in 37 games for Long Island this season, with a .331 batting average and .861 OPS. He’ll be replaced on the Ducks’ roster by another former Mets infielder: Rubén Tejada.