9:45PM: The Cubs are also showing interest in Murphy, as per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link).
8:56PM: The Astros are the latest team to explore a trade for Athletics catcher Sean Murphy, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link). Houston joins a lengthy list of suitors known to include such teams as the Guardians, Twins, White Sox, Red Sox, Rays, and Cardinals.
The A’s are surely commanding a high price tag in any Murphy deal, and the cost could possibly be a little steeper for one of Oakland’s AL West rivals. Nonetheless, the Astros have a good amount of young talent that could catch the Athletics’ interest, and Houston might feel the acquisition cost is worth it to add a former Gold Glover who is under control through the 2025 season.
Defense and game-calling has long been a priority behind the plate for the Astros, which is why the team has stuck with Martin Maldonado even though Maldonado’s offense has sharply fallen off in the last two seasons. However, the Astros did acquire Christian Vazquez at last year’s trade deadline, and Vazquez, Willson Contreras, and now Murphy has emerged on Houston’s radar this offseason. Whereas Contreras could be fit into the lineup as a DH or as a left fielder, Murphy has played exclusively as a catcher during his pro career, and moving a strong defender like Murphy away from the catcher’s position could be seen as a bit of a waste.
That said, the Astros might also simply install Murphy as the regular catcher and move Maldonado into more of a clear backup role. Maldonado is only under contract through the 2023 season, and thus Murphy provides more of a longer-term answer behind the plate.
If Houston didn’t want to meet Oakland’s demands for Murphy, signing Contreras would cost only money and a compensatory draft pick rather than prospect depth, which might be preferable for the Astros in the bigger picture. Contreras has long been of interest to the Astros, and former general manager James Click had arranged a trade at the deadline that would have sent Jose Urquidy to the Cubs for Contreras, but Houston owner Jim Crane vetoed the proposed deal on advice from manager Dusty Baker.
With the Astros now set to meet with Contreras as a free agent, Baker clarified his objection to the midseason deal. “It’s not that I didn’t want him, at the time, I just didn’t think it was the proper fit with two months to go in the season,” Baker told The Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome and other reporters today. “You have to learn the pitching staff, how we go about doing things, and I didn’t feel there was enough time to do that.”
Obtaining a more defensively-sound catcher like Vazquez was apparently more acceptable in Baker’s view, and it also certainly helped that Vazquez only cost the Astros two position-player prospects (Enmanuel Valdez and Wilyer Abreu) rather than a solid pitcher like Urquidy. Since Justin Verlander has now left the Astros to sign with the Mets, Urquidy has some added importance to an Astros rotation that is still quite strong, even without the AL Cy Young Award winner.
While the catching market is usually pretty thin, there have been plenty of rumblings about backstops this winter, given the presence of Contreras and Vazquez in the free agent market, as well as major trade chips (i.e. Murphy, or the Blue Jays’ and Braves’ catchers) all perhaps in play. Since Yadier Molina has now retired, the Cardinals have one of the more pressing needs at the position, and Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that trading for Murphy “is atop their list” among the many options. If the Cards traded for a catcher rather than spending bigger to sign a free agent like Contreras, Goold speculates that the team could then re-allocate any extra budget space towards a free agent, potentially even one of the remaining top shortstops like Dansby Swanson.
Cool. Another player the Sox won’t be acquiring. Fun times to be a Boston Red Sox fan!
Guess this is where the ‘making dalbec available’ thing comes in.
Chaim tried to trade dalbec for Murphy straight up, and didn’t understand why he got thrown out the hotel window at the meetings into the pool in response.
Unfortunately for him, most GMs aren’t inept and willing to trade talent off their rosters for underperforming former highly regarded prospects.
Lol did that really happen?
I’ll believe when I see it, but adding Murphy and Swanson would be a hell of an offseason for the Cards. Re-sign Quintana and try to get another pitcher at the deadline for the stretch run.
st. louis has a catcher, andrew knizner. he’s just held back by oli moron.
Incorrect.
Ivan Herrera is the future at catcher. He’s just young and needs a little time
I’m rooting for a St. Louis trade, most of their deals seem to include reasonable returns for teams giving up established talent. Hopefully not the Rays!
Nice lie Dusty. You proposed the trade for Vazquez instead, so none of what you said was true.
With all the interest in Murphy and Vazquez, it makes me wonder if Contreras is actually going to be a better value than initially expected.
Sounds like Goold’s sources are simply theorizing what could happen, not that it is a serious expectation. Unless, this is a way of telling us Winn is going to be in the package for Murphy, then they probably do need to make a serious effort at going for Swanson. It would certainly make for a great offseason, but part of me would be sad to not see Winn and Walker together in the majors.
FrontOfficeStan1;
Murphy and Vazquez are superior in handling a pitching staff and calling / running a game.
Contreras is poor at it. And his agent wants more than twice the salary those 2 catchers will play for.
Sam, I was not comparing them in any area of the game, nor comparing what their salary would be. My point was that Contreras seems to be a better value than he was at the beginning of free agency, simply because the market for others have been heating up.
That’s exactly what I was thinking. It also could mean Donovan is in the deal for Murphy. Either way, it points away from Gorman.
danny mac, arrested, third time DWI
Is it number 3? He’s probably done announcing then isn’t he? If Jim Edmonds takes over I may have to watch opposing team’s broadcasts.
Definitely be Brad taking over…
Brad’s a color guy. I bet they get Horton to go over to TV full time. He does play by play on radio already.
Oh Jesus not Jimmy Ballgame. He already never shuts up. I don’t want to imagine a scenario where he is top dog. My ears will bleed.
l like jim edmonds on tv
I would like him more if he talked less. He talks over big moments during the game comparing them to something he did. It’s annoying.
If I hear, “He wasn’t trying to do too much” one more time my head will explode.
Notnamed, huh?
I thought it was the 4th time honestly. Never seen anyone get so many chances…. I x spy that Mets reliever that got banned from baseball for life, then got reinstated the next year.
Holy crap.
Maybe I should put in my resume. I make good comments during games.
Who is better for Houston. I think catching for future and putting Maldy as backup with Framber being only pitcher left he really fit with. Contreras is not defensive but offensive. Murphy is whole package. But the draft pick part sounds better over talent from minors. But would anyone there fit going to Oakland. Trying to figure whom is best for Houston. I know catchers needed elsewhere. But would not mind knowing of the two who would be better. I have seen Murphy but not Contreras
Contreras’ defense is OK. He had good offensive numbers but keep in mind, that was in Wrigley. Take him out of that shoe box and you won’t see as many balls flying over the fence.
The shoebox is in Houston. No wind. Contreras will hit more HRs there where the wind never blows IN.
I actually don’t like any of the free agents as a fit for Houston catching. They have the two young guys that seem to be darn close to ready. Now Murphy on the other hand? If a reasonable trade is there you have to listen.
Murphy aside. Contreras hits so well, assume that will translate to MM, that he is more valuable as a backup catcher / DH / 1B? Say the Astros pick up LH Conforto to play LF and then CF when Alvarez is in LF, approx. 60 games.
Contreras played in 113 games and only had 416 AB’s in ‘22. He could catch 60 games, DH 60 games and man 1B for 20 games or some similar arrangement. The drawback is less opportunities to develop Yainer, Perez, Hensley, Meyers or WHOEVER assuming everyone stays healthy.
Conforto LF/CF
Alvarez DH/LF
Contreras C/DH/1B
Astros don’t have Jack ! I want Chase DelLauter from the Gauadians .
It’s amazing how many teams Murphy is going to…but the return is never mentioned. What are teams willing to give up for Murphy? The A’s have long made it clear they will talk to any team about any player at any time. It just sounds like a lot of noise for the sake of noise.
There is no return until a trade actually happens, so yeah, it’s just noise at this point. The A’s want the max possible return, so they’ll use rumors of what one team is willing to offer in order to gain leverage with other teams.
This is like the olson to Yankees rumors and other teams that dragged on for months, during lockout. Only to have an underwhelming deal with braves. I didn’t like any of the rebuild trades A’s made, so I’m expecting the worst for Murphy. Despite all these teams supposedly interested
I think Langeliers and Cusick could be good players. Pache is obviously a bust. We’ll have to wait a see how Ginn (the Bassitt trade) and Hogland (the Chapman trade) do next year. Scouts are high on these guys and Ginn pitched great in AFL.
Don’t forget about Joey Estes, he’s only still 21 I think, and he should be at AA next season.
While coming up with the Braves he seemed durable, and like he’d fit in perfectly as a contenders #4 or #5, with a ceiling of maybe turning into a quality #3 SP.
Him and Langeliers were really the ones I hated to see go, but to get quality you have to give quality..
Wish him, Cusick, Langeliers, and Pache all the best, and I really hope Pache can turn it around. He has all the talent you could ask for, and defensively he’s a pure stud, he just has to get it figured out at the plate.
He’s shown several glimpses of ultimately being able to become at least an average hitter at the ML level, so hopefully this season he can finally put it all together for the A’s.
Joey Estes was an intriguing piece of that trade having dominated single A at 19 years old. However, he didn’t impress me all that much in high +A. I’m personally really high on Cusick. This guy throws gas topping out at 99-100. Pache is truly gifted defensively, but he is trash offensively. There’s maybe some hidden power in his bat and can definitely snag some stolen bases, but I doubt his bat will ever come around if he can’t even hit well in AAA. The A’s will use him as a 4th outfielder and pinch runner.
From a Jays perspective, I think trades are looking like
Moreno trade = Blockbuster
Kirk trade = a legit SP with some control
Jansen trade = A LHH outfielder
Not sure the route they plan on taking, but only Rodon Syndergaard and Heaney are left (pitchers I’d want to see on the Jays)
They were supposed to have an agreement with either Bellinger or Nimmo.
Someone’s gonna be fired if this goes south.
Astros are not trading for Murphy. A’s would want a king’s ransom, and Houston doesn’t have it. I love how all of these articles since last year’s trade deadline continue to belittle how much Maldonado means to this team and their pitching staff. Maldonado will be the primary catcher next year..
I think MLBTR can take the Guardians out of rumors for catchers.
They aren’t going to pay the salaries asked, and if they have to trade major prospects that’s out of the question.
Moreno is cheap and would only take one of those great young SP like Quantrill
Jaysfan1981;
I think Cleveland might do that, although currently they’re looking for another starting pitcher. Sandy Alomar is one of the best at working with catchers.
Should warn you that pitchers that leave the Guardians generally
do worse when they got to another coaching staff and manager.
The Guardians handle pitchers extremely well.
Sam. Don’t forget, a wise old man said the Jays have the (current) best pitching coach
Don’t see it being a problem lol
They’re certainly not going to pay for Contreras, but with their wealth of prospects who are likely blocked at the major league level (primarily middle IF and SP), I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled off a trade for Murphy.
layventsky;
With the move to building a pitching factory, getting Contreras out from behind the plate, and looking to bring in another catcher to work with Gomes in handling a staff, the Cubs look good to me for the first time in years.
Too much is being made of the current status of the position players. Yes, they need a good D to support their pitchers. But they’re probably not going to be a WS contender in 2023. If they progress with their pitchers and add to some very good position players in the near future they can contend in the NL Central for years.
We can all agree that Cleveland is probably deep in conversations with Oakland on Murphy, right? You don’t get deep into those conversations without major prospects being included. It’s honestly probably down to Oakland wants one particular piece of the trade and Cleveland wants to include the other part of the piece.
CyBieber;
Disagree again.
I have doubts the Guardians are even in the mix at this point.
Could be wrong.
They had talks all the way back to the trade deadline. I doubt they’ve disengaged now.
Jaysfan – Love Moreno, but pairing up one rookie catcher with another rookie catcher (B. Naylor) doesn’t sound like a direction Cleveland would take. If this was a year later, and we had another year of development for potentially Espino, Williams, and Bibee…then sure I think the case could be made that Cal could be traded. Currently? I don’t think they can absorb that loss.
The firmly believe the guards are in the mix, but the problem is (and a lot of media has not caught up to this yet), their top 3 prospects are espino, bibee, and Williams, but they wont deal any of them. Rocchio and Valera are available, but teams want Cleveland pitching for obvious reasons. And they are attached to their pitching program. I would give Valera and Williams for Murphy and call it a day, but I bet Antonetti is offering Valera, Allen, benson, and any 2022 draftee not named delaughter. It’s actually a good offer but just not enough.
I’d go
Moreno / Van Eck
Quantrill / Naylor
@Brian – I’ve thought the same thing in regards to Oakland wanting Bibee or Williams and Cleveland wanting to make it Allen instead. Firmly believe that might be the hold up right now. Could also be Rocchio v. Valera (which one Oakland wants v. which one Cleveland wants). Will another team include two top 100/two top 5 organizational prospects? It’s a game of cat and mouse.
Cleveland does not want to and should not trade Espino, Williams, or Bibee. With the current price of pitching, Cleveland should not trade any of their big three pitchers. That was the holdup at the deadline and the likely hold up now. Cleveland is known to set their price and not move from that.
“… If this was a year later, and we had another year of development for potentially Espino, Williams, and Bibee…
CyBieber;
See, that’s the problem.
The A’s want one of those 3 to start. Meanwhile the Guardians are already looking for another starter for this year. They need to bring up cheap pitchers from their farm system to compete. In this case they’d be trading away one.
Then add that if the A’s can’t get Espino – and Guardians aren’t giving him up – they’ll demand the best SS candidate to go with one of the other 2 pitchers – probably Brayan Rocchio….and even then they’d want one more prospect, but not necessarily a high level one.
Looking out Espino is probably Bieber’s replacement when he goes FA, and Rocchio the same for Andres Gimenez when he hits FA.
The Cleveland FO is very good at looking years ahead because they don’t have the money to make moves in the short term when prices go up.
What the A’s want is extremely expensive to them for 3 years of a catcher. And they’re pitting a half-dozen teams against one another to get the best deal.
@Samuel – Giminez has 4 years until free agency. They shouldn’t be thinking of anyones replacement 4 years from FA.
You’re just speculating on what the A’s want. All the A’s fans on here are saying they don’t need any pitching, they need hitters. So who honestly knows what Oakland is asking for. It could be Valera and Rocchio as the headliners.
And I said “potentially” because Williams or Bibee could be included in the A’s deal. I don’t know though. It’s not like more pitchers won’t be coming if one is traded. Look at where Bibee was a year ago. He wasn’t on anyones lists.
The Cubs leaving no stone unturned in San Diego!
Probably some gamesmanship to get Cards to maybe give too much back.
They would have to have prospects to give in order to do that.
10:06 PM : There is yet ANOTHER suitor inquiring about Sean Murphy. The Mexican Pacific League is offering full control of their baseball operations just to own the rights to the popular star. It is not likely to happen though because League players stated they would strike after the Athletics started cutting their payroll. Players were excited about the transaction until they found out 10000/month was in pesos and not actual dollars,
Oakland offered ownership of Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Murphy, who is then traded back to Oakland.
I really hope the Cardinals get Murphy, they have the trade chips to get him, they need him!
Would you rather Murphy at an expensive cost. Or Jansen for Nootbar?
The cost of Murphy seems pretty steep. Might be better served using that capital other ways. Like elite pitching
It’s doubtful the Cards make a move for an ace type starter this yr. There are only 2 starters in the rotation on the books after this season currently. Catcher and a bat (SS or OF) are this seasons priorities. We’ll have the space and money next year to go after one of the top FA starters.
Jansen. For Burleson and McGreevy.
If they really want him they can get him. There may be the Swanson part of this that depends on what the package may be. Gorman or Winn. I would prefer to not sign Swanson and focus on pitching after a Murphy trade.
There will be a few value 4th OFs and bullpen pieces out there in late Jan.
Hilarious. Cubs in on Murphy. Roll your pants up. It’s getting deep.
Last time the Cubs got into a bidding war with us they lucked into Jason Heyward.