Giants officially end the Tom Murphy era

On Monday, the San Francisco Giants made perhaps their least surprising offseason transaction in franchise history. As the offseason officially got underway, the Giants declined their team option for catcher Tom Murphy, opting for a $250,000 buyout rather than a $4 million salary.

And thus ends the story of one of the worst transactions in recent memory for the Giants. Murphy was signed two offseasons ago to be Patrick Bailey’s backup, and I’ll overtly eat some crow here. Most people ranged from critical to skeptical of the signing, but I thought Murphy was the perfect backup for Bailey: a bat-first veteran who could pinch-hit late in games (and occasionally be the designated hitter) felt like the perfect complement to Bailey’s profile as an all-world defender with a highly-suspect bat. Murphy had posted an .873 OPS the year before signing with San Francisco, and that felt like just what the Giants needed on the bench.

Unfortunately, Murphy’s profile as a strong bat was not strong enough to overcome his profile as a perennially-injured player. Murphy played 13 games for the Giants in 2024 before hitting the Injured List with knee pain. He never played again that year, and on the first day of Spring Training in 2025, we learned that he again had an injury setback, this time to his back, and he never came close to playing during the season. And so, the $8.25 million that the Giants committed to Murphy turned into 13 games, four hits, and one home run.

And yet, that’s arguably not even the worst of it. Murphy’s case is not just one of a free agent deal that never offered a return on the investment. In August, Murphy made claims of malpractice by the team’s medical staff. The catcher, who lost the season due to a thoracic vertebrae disc herniation, told the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser that, among other things, “After my own digging around and not feeling right about the situation and not seeing any results from the epidurals, they were actually injecting the wrong disc. So I wasn’t getting any effective treatment … And when I brought up the initial fact that I thought they were injecting the wrong disc (at the clinic), the (Giants) organization kind of thought it was pretty funny of me. But later that day, the doctor ended up calling me and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been doing this incorrectly the whole time, blah blah blah.’”

Needless to say, that’s not a good look. Nor is signing Murphy in the first place.

With Murphy out of the picture, Jesús Rodríguez is the favorite to be the backup catcher when Opening Day rolls around, though they could look for reinforcements this offseason. Andrew Knizner is also under contract, though it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s non-tendered. Logan Porter, who played briefly this year, was re-signed on a Minor League deal.