There is already a lot of uncertainty about Sean Murphy among Atlanta Braves fans. Murphy has, at times, looked like he could be one of the best catchers in baseball. However, his offensive production the last two years has been inconsistent at best and the revelation that he has been playing for the last couple of years with a tear in his hip both helped explain his struggles as well as creating concern for his long-term durability at a very physically demanding position.
Given that uncertainty, some have even called for the Braves to entertain trading Murphy which is certainly possible with the emergence of Drake Baldwin. However, another unfortunate side effect has been a lot of hindsight evaluation of the trade that brought Murphy to Atlanta in the first place especially with William Contreras going wild in the postseason for the Brewers.
William Contreras' run with the Brewers is not helping the Braves' end of the Sean Murphy trade
For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that no one seems to understand how Milwaukee ended up with Contreras in the Murphy trade. It was as if the Athletics actively wanted a worse deal for themselves and the Brewers swooped in to offer them a speed-first hitting prospect with little offensive upside in Esteury Ruiz. The A's bought in and the Brewers, despite giving up little, ended up with at least one of the two best players in the trade in Contreras if not THE best. How that transpired is one of life's great mysteries.
However, that IS what happened and Contreras has obviously been a revelation for the Brewers at catcher. Contreras has proven to be a solid defensive catcher while also being one of the better hitting catchers in all of baseball. After Contreras has taken the playoffs by storm by going 4-9 with a homer through the first two games against the NLDS, it is fair to wonder if the Braves should have just kept Contreras all along and not bothered with trading for Murphy.
Ultimately, the Murphy trade is going to be judged by how Murphy responds post-surgery. If it turns out that Murphy's injury was holding him back and he goes wild, Atlanta will be more than happy with having him in the fold through at least 2028. If not and Contreras just keeps raking and helping Milwaukee win playoff games, the Hindsight Police are going to become more and more numerous.