Cardinals: Trade proposals for rumored catcher targets

Sean Murphy

When it comes to Athletics catcher Sean Murphy, there are two types of trades I could see Oakland making with St. Louis. The first is a little bit more top heavy.

Murphy is 28-years old and is controllable through the 2025 season, making him an extremely valuable asset at one of the premier positions in all of baseball. Murphy finished the 2022 season slashing .250/.332/.426 with 18 HR and 66 RBI for one of the worst teams in baseball.

Even more impressive, Murphy did so while catching in 116 games in DHing in just 30 games. He is durable and can put up numbers at the plate while playing most of his games behind the plate as a two-time Gold Glover.

With Oakland in the beginning of a long rebuild, they will looking to stack up on top end prospects and very young major league talent. Nolan Gorman is the perfect centerpiece in this deal for them, as he has the high-end tools to be a middle of the order hitter for them for years to come, but does not have a clear roster spot for the Cardinals at the moment.

Matthew Liberatore still holds a lot of value in the league, but is clearly ready to get consistent big league innings to further his development, and the Cardinals do not really have those available in 2023 for him.

This may seem like a high price to pay, but it is realistic value for a top catcher in all of baseball with three more years of control. Because Oakland is in a long rebuild, they may be interested in a larger package with less high end talent, which brings us to the second option for a deal for Murphy.

In this scenario, the Cardinals get their elite catcher, and do so by parting with one of their most exciting young arms in Gordon Graceffo, who rose in the Cardinals system during the 2022 season. Another major piece of this trade is OF Alec Burleson, who already made his MLB debut due to his high-end bat potential after being selected in the 2020 draft. Michael McGreevy could be a very dependable starter for years to come.

The Athletics may ask for slightly different trades than this, but if St. Louis pulls of a deal with them, expect something like this.