{"id":90028,"date":"2024-11-20T01:11:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T06:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=90028"},"modified":"2024-11-20T01:11:18","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T06:11:18","slug":"brewers-pat-murphy-downplays-honor-focusing-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/20\/brewers-pat-murphy-downplays-honor-focusing-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Murphy Downplays MOY Honor, Already Focusing on 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">After leading the Milwaukee Brewers to 93 victories, a National League Central Division title, and a sixth playoff berth in seven seasons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/murphpa99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pat Murphy<\/a> was named the National League <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/19\/manager-of-the-year-winners-2024\/\" target=\"_self\">Manager of the Year<\/a> by the Baseball Writers Association of America &#8212; the first Brewers manager to ever win the honor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But as far as Murphy is concerned, it&#8217;s all just much ado about nothing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;To be honest, it&#8217;s a little embarrassing,&#8221; Murphy said from the sidelines of a baseball field in Mesa, Arizona, where he was watching his 10-year-old son&#8217;s baseball practice. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got a great staff and we&#8217;ve got young, hungry players and they made me look good.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">With Pat Murphy\u2019s Manager of the Year win with the <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Brewers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Brewers<\/a>, managers from all 30 teams have won the award. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZjFVRLPOvJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ZjFVRLPOvJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1859023945418334315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Pat Murphy Shrugs Off Manager of the Year Honor, Looking Ahead to Next Year<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">While Murphy may shrug off the significance of the honor, it&#8217;s hard to ignore the job he did &#8212; and the obstacles he had to overcome &#8212; in his first full season as a big-league manager.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The longtime college coach at Notre Dame and Arizona State joined the Brewers in 2016 to serve as bench coach to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/counscr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Craig Counsell<\/a>, his former player with the Fighting Irish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Most expected Murphy to follow Counsell to Chicago when he stunned the Brewers and their fans by bolting to take the Cubs&#8217; managerial job last fall. Instead, after wowing general manager Matt Arnold in what Arnold admitted was initially a &#8220;courtesy&#8221; interview, Murphy got the top job. His charge was to oversee what most expected to be something of a rebuilding year for the Brewers.<\/p>\n<h3>Obstacles Overcome<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">Milwaukee was already heading into 2024 without one of its star starting pitchers. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/woodrbr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-20_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Woodruff<\/a> would be out for most if not all of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery last October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Murphy took another blow just weeks before pitchers and catchers reported when Arnold <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/01\/corbin-burnes-traded-orioles\/\" target=\"_self\">traded<\/a> staff ace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/burneco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-20_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corbin Burnes<\/a> to the Baltimore Orioles for a pair of top prospects. Then, the injury bug struck again during Cactus League play when All-Star closer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=willide03,willia005dev&amp;search=Devin+Williams&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-20_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Williams<\/a> underwent back surgery that would leave him sidelined until the All-Star Break, and outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchga01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-20_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garrett Mitchell<\/a> suffered a broken hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Yet, Murphy remained undaunted &#8212; a word that would <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/17\/brewers-remain-undaunted-second-half\/\" target=\"_self\">become a mantra<\/a> for his team. Milwaukee roared out of the gate with a season-opening sweep of the New York Mets, then kept on winning despite a stunning rash of injuries that led to Murphy using 17 different starting pitchers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">And just when people were finally starting to take the Brewers seriously, fate dealt another blow when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yelicch01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-11-20_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Yelich<\/a>&#8216;s resurgent season came to an abrupt end due to a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/27\/christian-yelich-sights-set-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">back injury<\/a> that kept him out for almost the entire second half.<\/p>\n<h3>Onto Next Season<\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\">None of that, though, mattered. Nor did the youth or inexperience of Milwaukee&#8217;s roster. By the time it was all said and done, the Brewers ran away with the Central. They finished 10 games ahead of Counsell&#8217;s Cubs and flirted with the NL&#8217;s best record heading into the final weekend of the season before their playoff run came to a stunning end in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Mets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Arnold didn&#8217;t mince words when asked about Murphy&#8217;s efforts during his end-of-season press conference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;It would be a crime if he&#8217;s not named Manager of the Year,&#8221; Arnold said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Murphy, though, is already turning his attention to next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;This isn&#8217;t the end game or some incredible achievement,&#8221; Murphy said. &#8220;This is part of it but what do you do now, what&#8217;s next? I&#8217;m thinking about 2025 and what are the things we can do better, where our process can get better, and how we can squeeze a little more juice out of Player A or Player B.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">&#8220;I&#8217;m grateful to get recognized. It&#8217;s nice and makes me look like I know what I&#8217;m doing &#8230; but you&#8217;re always trying to keep yourself in the right spot mentally so you disregard the good opinions and disregard the bad opinions and just be honest with yourself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After leading the Milwaukee Brewers to 93 victories, a National League Central Division title, and a sixth playoff berth in seven seasons, Pat Murphy was named the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers Association of America &#8212; the first Brewers manager to ever win the honor. But as far as Murphy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5129,"featured_media":90032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1071],"tags":[1711,2238,4328,645,4889,21201],"class_list":["post-90028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brewers","category-mlb","tag-bbwaa","tag-craig-counsell","tag-matt-arnold","tag-nl-central","tag-nl-manager-of-the-year","tag-pat-murphy"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}