Murray offered more in effort to keep him
OAKLAND >> The A’s wanted Kyler Murray bad enough to offer the Heisman Trophy winner an additional $14 million to stick to his original plan to play professional baseball, according to a published report.
Murray, the No. 9 overall pick in the baseball draft, accepted a $4.66 million bonus to play for the A’s — but only after he completed his final year of football eligibility Oklahoma. On June 15, Murray took batting practice at the Coliseum and was introduced to players
as well as manager Bob Melvin as VP of operations Billy Beane and agent Scott Boras talked in superlatives about the outfielder’s baseball potential.
During a news conference preceding the batting practice session, Murray played it close to the vest, never directly answering the question of whether he
would be tempted by the NFL
Then Murray went out and passed for 4,361 yards and 42 touchdowns for the Sooners, NFL teams stopped being overly concerned by his size (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) and it was clear he could make much more money playing football.
“Circumstances change,” Kyler’s mother Missy Murray told Sports Illustrated. “Nobody knew he’d be in this position.”
With the A’s realizing they were about to lose their top draft pick to football, Sports Illustrated reported that a contingent that included owner John Fisher, Beane and a major league marketing executive visited Murray in his home town of Dallas in January to sweeten the pot.
The offer reportedly was for an additional $14 million in cash, bringing Murray’s total money to roughly the equivalent of Roquan Smith, the No. 8 pick of the Chicago Bears in last season’s NFL draft.
Murray turned it down, and on Feb. 11 announced in Twitter he was “firmly and fully” committing to football. He is the favorite
to be the No. 1 overall selection on April 25 by the Arizona Cardinals, although GM Steve Keim said the franchise has yet to make that decision.
• Josh Phegley, author of a nine-game hitting streak and having driven in a run in each of his last six games, was not in the starting lineup at catcher in the series opener against the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. Instead, veteran Nick Hundley, coming off an 0-for-10 trip and hitting .115, was batting ninth and catching starter Marco Estrada.
“As far as catchers go, they’re not going to catch 162 (games) so Phegs will be back in there,” Melvin said. “We brought in Nick for a reason here too, and even though Phegs is swinging the bat a little better, we need to get Nick going as well.”
• First baseman Matt Olson, on the injured list since March 25 after surgery to remove a hamate bone from his right hand, took swings with a fungo bat in the football locker room Tuesday night.
“It will be a progression from this point, softtoss, the tee and that sort of thing,” Melvin said. “I think we’re right on schedule with him and he’s pretty eager to start swinging a bat and facing some pitching, but it’s going to be a little bit more time before we do that.”
The A’s have hedged on a timetable, given that players heal at different speeds. Olson should be good to go at some point in May.
• A’s and Astros players all wore No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, who broke the major league baseball color barrier on April 15, 1947.
Local athletes from the Oakland Cal Ripken Babe Ruth League and Skyline and McClymonds high schools took part in an onfield cap exchange before the game.
“It’s inspiring to everybody, not only in baseball but in sports, and I think as the years go on, everybody is even more aware of what he meant to open doors not only for baseball, but other sports as well,” Melvin said. “Even if you’re not that aware of the history of baseball you’re certainly aware of what Jackie Robinson meant.”
• The brutal early portion of the A’s schedule is over, having played 17 games in 17 days before a rainout in Texas. The A’s were off Monday and are off again Thursday as well as April 25.
Melvin is not planning on any changes to the pitching rotation during that time.
“One of the things we like to do over the course of the season is give the starters an extra day unless there’s a glaring weakness,” Melvin said. “After being on turn a little more than three times around, I think it’s the prudent thing to do to give everybody the extra day.”
• Right-hander Chris Bassitt, out with a leg contusion since March 25, was reinstated from the injured list and sent to Triple-A Las Vegas. He’ll eventually be joined there by Edwin Jackson, who is currently in Arizona. Daniel Mengden, who has spent time in the A’s rotation in each of the past two years, is also in Las Vegas.
“As you saw last year you can never have too much depth,” Melvin said. “We lost everybody in our rotation last year, whether it’s performance, it’s injury or whatever, we’re not afraid to make some moves here to try and get better.”