The trade market is finally up and running: The A’s sent catcher Sean Murphy to the Braves in a three-team deal with nine players and plenty of quirks.
Here are the details of the swap, which was first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN. The Braves will receive Murphy from the A’s in exchange for major-league catcher Manny Piña and a prospect package of left-handed pitcher Kyle Muller and right-handed pitchers Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas. The Braves will also send two players—All-Star catcher William Contreras and minor-league pitcher Justin Yeager—to the Brewers. Finally, the Brewers will send utilityman Esteury Ruiz to the A’s, and they will get back minor-league pitcher Joel Payamps.
In other words? This is a bit of a weird one! The Braves were already plenty strong at catcher. (The fact that they were able to trade away not one but two major-league backstops here should be a good hint there.) But the best catcher available right now was Murphy—and Atlanta gave up an All-Star and a few serious prospects to get him. The Brewers, meanwhile, pulled off a huge win: They landed a legitimate impact bat (Contreras) while giving up very little. And the A’s … continued exactly what they have done for the last few years, trading away their best players as soon as they reach arbitration mostly in exchange for minor leaguers of varying talent, all in the service of ensuring their payroll stays as low as possible.
