Would the Braves still make the Sean Murphy trade knowing what they know now?

One of the trades that defined the Atlanta Braves' offseason before 2023 kicked off was the move to acquire Sean Murphy from the Athletics. Atlanta already had William Contreras (more on him in a bit) and Travis d'Arnaud at catcher, but they clearly thought they needed a different primary guy behind the play to control the run game better and manage the pitching staff.

At the time, Murphy was widely considered to be one of the best catchers in baseball without question. While Contreras had showed flashes of his talent, most thought the Braves did well to go out and get Murphy along with signing him to an extension. However, how the Brewers ended up getting involved in the trade remains a puzzle that historians will struggle to understand for years to come.

Unfortunately for the Braves, that trade for Murphy is looking a bit more sketchy these days.

Atlanta still did well with the Sean Murphy trade, but whether they "won" the trade is much less clear

Before we go any further, let's take a look at all of the parts in play in the Murphy trade. This was a weird, complicated deal with a lot of moving parts that we need to look at together before understanding whether the Braves would make the move again.

• Braves get: Catcher Sean Murphy
• Oakland gets: LHP Kyle Muller, RHP Freddy Tarnok, RHP Royber Salinas, C Manny Piña, OF Esteury Ruiz (from Brewers)
• Brewers get: Catcher William Contreras, RHP Joel Payamps, RHP Justin Yeager

Again, that Milwaukee somehow ended up doing so well in this deal despite only giving up Esteury Ruiz is genuinely mind-boggling. Ruiz is insanely fast and a constant threat to steal bases, but that is pretty much all he has going for him at this point. That the Brewers got Contreras as well as a decent MLB reliever and a decent relief prospect basically for just Ruiz blows the mind.

However, what matters for our purposes is what the Braves got versus what they gave up. Manny Piña was a third catcher that Atlanta didn't need, Muller and Tarnok were former top pitching prospects for the Braves who now seem destined for relief roles at best and who occupied 40-man spots at the time, and Yeager was a decent, but expendable relief prospect. All of these parts are losses the Braves can easily live with and freeing up 40-man roster spots is a sneaky added value for Atlanta here.

Where the trade gets dicey is the Braves also giving up Contreras who was was the centerpiece of the deal that, again, somehow the Brewers ended up with. Contreras had stretches with the Braves where he was a fantastic offensive player and he has flourished at the plate since joining the Brewers. Since the trade, Contreras has an .813 OPS and has added his name to the list of the best catchers in baseball.

In terms of overall value, there is some debatability as to who was better in 2023 depending on which defensive metrics you look at, but there is no denying that Contreras has done more this year. However, even that picture is fogged up by the fact that Murphy missed a bunch of time to start the season with an oblique injury. He certainly hasn't been awesome upon his return from the IL, but it's hard to say if Murphy's issues with fastballs right now is just because of rust or because of an underlying long-term problem.

The short answer to the fundamental question asked at the top is that it is too early to say if the Braves would do this deal again, but we are still leaning yes for the moment. Sure, Contreras has been great in Milwaukee without question as a hitter, but Murphy is still the better defender and is a really good game-caller as well which are two skills Atlanta values very highly. The Braves also have Murphy under team control for longer than the Brewers have Contreras and it is unlikely that Murphy will continue to struggle at the plate like he has this year.

At the end of the day, this feels like a trade where both the Braves and the Brewers are likely happy with how the deal turned out. As for Oakland, well...their return was very on-brand for them.

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