{"id":156324,"date":"2022-12-13T07:38:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T07:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rosenthal-inside-the-trade-of-sean-murphy-to-braves-and-the-catalyst-for-the-three-team-deal\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T07:38:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T07:38:02","slug":"rosenthal-inside-the-trade-of-sean-murphy-to-braves-and-the-catalyst-for-the-three-team-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rosenthal-inside-the-trade-of-sean-murphy-to-braves-and-the-catalyst-for-the-three-team-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosenthal: Inside the trade of Sean Murphy to Braves and the catalyst for the three-team deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Oakland A’s wanted two major-league-ready position players for catcher Sean Murphy. The Braves weren’t about to trade Vaughn Grissom, whom they are grooming to potentially replace free agent Dansby Swanson at shortstop. And the A’s didn’t need William Contreras, not after acquiring another catcher from the Braves, Shea Langeliers, in the Matt Olson trade nine months ago.<\/p>\n
Effectively, the teams had no match. But on Tuesday, the Braves landed Murphy anyway, parting with six players in a three-team trade. Contreras and minor-league right-hander Justin Yeager went to the Brewers, along with reliever Joel Payamps from the A’s. Left-hander Kyle Muller, catcher Manny Pi\u00f1a, and minor-league righties Freddy Tarnok and Royber Salinas went to the A’s, with Muller substituting for the second position player Oakland was unable to acquire.<\/p>\n
Two separate occurrences helped the deal come together, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The first was the Cardinals’ pivot away from Murphy to sign Contreras’ older brother, Willson Contreras, to a four-year, $87.5 million free-agent contract. The second was the Braves’ willingness to send William Contreras to the Brewers so they could access center fielder Esteury Ruiz, a player whom the A’s had identified to clubs as one they wanted for Murphy.<\/p>\n
Ruiz, who turns 24 on Feb. 15, was part of the Brewers’ return for Josh Hader at the trade deadline. His arrival in Oakland could jeopardize the future of Cristian Pache, another player the A’s acquired in the Olson trade. Ruiz finished the season with a .447 on-base percentage in 541 plate appearances at Double A and Triple A. He also stole 85 bases in 99 attempts, and should benefit from the new rules baseball is introducing to enhance base stealing in 2023 \u2014 bigger bases, pickoff and step-off limits, a pitch clock.<\/p>\n