The Milwaukee Brewers are in serious need of an upgrade at catcher. Omar Narvaez is a free agent, but was not expected to be re-signed after a disappointing 2022. Alex Jackson was outrighted to Nashville and taken off the 40-man roster. That leaves Victor Caratini, Payton Henry, and Mario Feliciano as the current catchers on the Brewers’ roster. One name that many fans want is Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy, who is available for trade. Murphy hit .250/.332/.426 with 18 home runs and 66 RBI in 2022 while coming in 22nd in MVP voting. He was awarded the AL Gold Glove at catcher in 2021 and came in fourth in Rookie of the Year voting in 2020. In other words, he is extremely talented and has years of club control left.
However, Oakland has made it known that they do not want prospects in return for Murphy; they want Major League players.
Per @Ken_Rosenthal, the #Athletics are seeking major-leaguers rather than prospects for Sean Murphy.
— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) December 6, 2022
Who Would the Brewers Have to Give Up to Get Sean Murphy?
Knowing that no prospects will be involved, a trade will be a little harder for the Brewers to pull off. According to baseballtradevalues.com, Murphy has a trade value of 51.3. That is a very high value, and would cost the Brewers some top-tier talent. Here are the players that the Brewers would have to consider including in a possible trade, along with their trade values:
- Willy Adames: 41.3
- Aaron Ashby: 32.9
- Garrett Mitchell: 16.1
- Tyrone Taylor: 12.7
- Luis Urias: 15.6
- Devin Williams: 33.5
Of these, none of them are really ideal for the Brewers. In any trade involving these players, they would be sacrificing depth at another position. Additionally, there is no way the Brewers trade away Williams, and they have expressed interest in extending Willy Adames. Ashby was just extended last season and appears to be part of the Brewers’ long-term plans. However, based on these values, the trade that would most likely work would be Ashby and Mitchell in exchange for Murphy.
Would that be worth it? I am not so sure.
Note: Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff are not on the trade block. Freddy Peralta has a trade value of 63.8.
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