Sean Murphy Is Heading East In Blockbuster Trade

The long-awaited Sean Murphy trade has finally gone down, and the Oakland A's have struck a deal with a team that no one saw coming. 

The deal sending Sean Murphy to Atlanta is part of a three-way trade with the Oakland A's and Milwaukee Brewers, sources tell ESPN. One of the players heading to Milwaukee is catcher William Contreras. Oakland is getting catcher Manny Pina.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 12, 2022

MLB Insider Jeff Passan reports that the Atlanta Braves have secured the services of the A's Gold Glove catcher in a 3-way trade that also included the Milwaukee Brewers. Catcher William Contreras heads to the Brew Crew as part of the deal.

But the haul for the A's is huge. They get Atlanta's No. 1 prospect, 6'7" LHP Kyle Muller, as well as their No. 6 prospect RHP Freddy Tarnock as part of the deal, in addition to the Brewers' No. 8 prospect, slugging OF Esteury Ruiz.

What we know so far, per sources and reports:

Braves get Murphy

Brewers get Contreras, RHP Yeager (from ATL), RHP Payamps (from OAK).

A’s get LHP Muller, C Piña, RH prospect Tarnok (from ATL), OF Ruiz (from MIL).@JoelSherman1@kileymcd@ByRobertMurray @JeffPassan

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 12, 2022

The Athletics were adamant on receiving a significant return before they would deal Murphy, and sent out messages that they were prepared to keep him if their price wasn't met. Apparently, the Braves met it. 

The 28-year-old Murphy stands out as a backstop who brings it on both sides of the ball, being a Gold Glover behind the plate, and adding some nice pop at the dish (18 HR this past season).

He also has three years of team control remaining before he could enter free agency.

Murphy now rejoins his former A's teammate Matt Olson in Atlanta. It was the Braves who traded top catching prospect Shea Langeliers to Oakland as part of the package that brought Olson to Atlanta. Now with Langeliers ready to emerge as a starter for the A's, the Braves were able to snag Murphy as well.

Alex Anthopoulos has done it again.

The Braves used one catcher of the future (Langeliers) to get a first baseman and they’ve used another (Contreras) to get their next catcher of the future. Why? For at least three years of this: https://t.co/aAxgKRSk8K pic.twitter.com/fV24ZLFksi

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) December 12, 2022