The Braves Swap William Contreras For Sean Murphy In A Three-Team Trade That Makes No Sense For Two Of The Teams

Well this trade is ... something.

It seemed as details kept emerging that the Brewers surely gave up more than a fourth outfielder with a career .171 big league batting average to acquire an All-Star catcher and a couple of pitchers, but nope. The Braves essentially swapped 22-year-old All-Star William Contreras for 28-year-old Sean Murphy — and had to throw in several other players to even do that.

I just don't understand what the thinking was here from Alex Anthopoulos. Contreras hit 20 home runs in 334 at-bats in 2022 and finished the season with an .860 OPS. Murphy's OPS was more than 100 points lower and he hit 18 home runs in 200 more at-bats. Murphy is certainly a good player and an elite defensive catcher, but Atlanta had arguably the best catching duo in baseball already with Contreras and Travis d'Arnaud. Catcher may have been dead last on the list of positions of need for the Braves.

I actually feel like Oakland and Atlanta somehow both got fleeced while having the two main players involved in the deal. Why were the Brewers included in this trade at all, especially if they were going to get arguably the best player out of the bunch for a bucket of baseballs?

I just don't get it. The Braves traded a really good catcher and some decent prospects for an older good catcher and the A's got rid of their best player for what could turn out to be absolutely nothing. The Brewers, meanwhile, are probably sitting in an office laughing their asses off and triple-checking that this trade actually went through.

Maybe Murphy turns out to be incredible on a better team, but I remain unconvinced he's a better bat than Contreras. I'll need to see this one play out before I believe the Braves got much better today.