Lee Stevens' name will live on in the Texas Rangers' history books for a little while longer now as the last person the organization went to an arbitration hearing with, as the club reached a one-year deal with left fielder David Murphy on Monday to put the Rangers' arbitration-eligible players at zero for the remainder of the year.
Murphy and the Rangers reached the deal Monday morning, as reported by several local media outlets. No terms have been released yet, but the deal is believed to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.5 million to $5.75 million.
Late last week, the club and Murphy each made their requests known for a one-year deal to avoid the uncomfortable task of an arbitration hearing, something that club hasn't done since 2000 with Stevens. Murphy submitted $6.5 million, while the Rangers put in a number of $5.05. The midpoint would be $5.775 million, which is one of the numbers that's been reported, according to Rangers czar Jamey Newberg.
Last season, Murphy got his first chance to be a full-time player when he basically forced Ron Washington to play him every day over Craig Gentry, who he'd platooned with for a while. Murphy hit .304 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs, and for stretches of the season was the Rangers' top offensive producer as the club went through a few horrible offensive stretches.
