When Brewers first baseman Eric Thames went on a hitting spree at the start of the 2017 season, Cubs manager Joe Maddon was searching for superlatives.
"My God, this is Murphy-esque, this is Bonds-esque," Maddon said at the time. "I have not seen anything like this since Little League."
The Murphy in "Murphy-esque" was second baseman Daniel Murphy, the newest Cubs infielder after a surprising trade with the Nationals on Tuesday afternoon.
Murphy, 33, provides the Cubs with a solid left-handed bat and serves as an insurance policy in the absence of Kris Bryant and the continued slump of Addison Russell.
Bryant will return at some point and Russell should start hitting eventually, but nothing is guaranteed. And with every game as important as it is in a tight race for the division and the wild card, the Cubs need an offensive boost soon.
How soon is now?
At the worst it's a $4 million investment for the stretch run and the postseason, where Murphy can come off the bench and give Maddon more late-inning flexibility. But at this point he needs to play regularly, even if that means moving Javier Baez to short and sitting Russell.
The price _ a Class A player and either a player to be named later or cash _ is a steal if Murphy's bat can help win a few games down the stretch. Even if it's a short-term rental, as expected, it's a worthwhile risk.
Murphy isn't exactly Barry Bonds, but the reason Maddon tied Murphy and Bonds together stemmed from Murphy's incredible performance against the Cubs in the 2015 National League Championship Series as a member of the Mets. Murphy hit .529 with four home runs in the four-game sweep en route to winning the NLCS MVP award.
Murphy once told me he loves playing at Wrigley Field, especially in day games in which he said he sees the ball well. He has seven home runs, a .413 average and a 1.142 OPS over 28 regular season games at Wrigley, in addition to his postseason heroics in 2015. He already owns Wrigley, and now he gets to move in.
Since Murphy has been a proverbial Cubs-killer for years, some skeptics are already wondering if he'll be the next Jeff Blauser, the one-time Cubs-killer with the Braves who suddenly stopped hitting as soon as he began wearing a Cubs uniform in 1998.
It's a fair question, and we'll find out soon enough. But I doubt it. Blauser was at the tail end of his career and was already showing signs of rust. Murphy has been a clutch hitter for years against everyone, and has a .327 career average with runners in scoring position.
And there's no rust factor here. He's been especially hot of late, hitting .340 in the second half with the Nats, who put him on waivers as a sign they're waving the white flag.
Is there any downside to the move?
When the Brewers acquired Jonathan Schoop from the Orioles before the trade deadline, they were criticized for getting another bat when they really needed pitching, and everyone wondered where there would play all of their infielders.
The same could be said of the Cubs. They could use another starter with Mike Montgomery on the disabled list and Yu Darvish out for the season, and adding a second baseman isn't the first thing you might think they need right now with Baez and Ben Zobrist available.
But getting a quality bat at any time in a pennant race is always laudable, and Murphy should fit in well in the Cubs clubhouse, not to mention at Murphy's Bleachers across the street if he ever gets thirsty.
They hated him in 2015.
They'll love him now.
