Catcher Murphy could be trade bait
A’s front office looks to shore up roster, not just pick up prospects after 102-loss season
LAS VEGAS — As the Oakland Athletics dismantled their roster last spring to begin a rebuild, parting with their premier pitchers and hitters, Sean Murphy might have seemed an afterthought in all that trade talk. The catcher now might be front and center.
“To be honest,” general manager David Forst said Tuesday at the general manager meetings, “there’ll be lots of conversation about Sean this offseason, just because he’s a terrific player at an important position. … There’s no shortage of interest in Sean.”
The A’s find themselves in a position where across-the-board upgrades are necessary — that’s how it is for teams coming off 102 losses with a historically anemic offense — so to fill the holes, trading from a position of strength makes sense.
For the A’s, that’s the catching department. Murphy won a Gold Glove last year and is a Silver Slugger finalist this year, possessing what it takes to be a cornerstone for an organization in transition.
But the A’s have depth behind the plate. Shea Langeliers, the ninth overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft who arrived from the Braves in the Matt Olson trade, debuted in August and played 40 games, showing signs he’s their immediate heir apparent.
Furthermore, the A’s like their minor-league stable. Catchers Tyler Soderstrom and Daniel Susac were first-round picks in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and Kyle McCann was a fourthrounder in 2019.
“It’s something we have to factor into our trade conversations,” Forst said of the organization’s relative wealth of catchers.
Trading Murphy could help fill holes elsewhere on the roster. One is at third base, where eight different men played in 2022, none well enough to win a permanent job. They combined for a .550 OPS, the lowest mark of any position on the team.
By comparison, the A’s catchers had a .772 OPS, highest on the team. It’s no wonder a catcher such as Murphy is their most attractive bargaining chip in any trades.
Asked to evaluate Langeliers, Forst said, “I think Shea has the ability to be exactly what Sean is, an everyday cornerstone behind the plate. He has to do it in the major leagues, but he has shown it at every level. Power, throwing, receiving, working with our pitchers. He has a chance to have a complete game as a catcher.”
The A’s are still figuring out their future payroll — “budget conversations have not been finalized across the organization yet,” Forst said — and the baseball-operations department hopes for more money in 2023.
Owner John Fisher’s massive spring fire sale led not only to what was ultimately MLB’s lowest payroll but also the lowest attendance — even as he significantly increased ticket prices.
This offseason, Forst anticipates engaging in the free-agent market more than in the past two years, even if it results only in lower-end signings. Forst said he has spoken this week with representatives of free agents and teams that could be trade partners.
“Most spots on the diamond, we’ll look to see what the options are,” Forst said. “I wouldn’t try to narrow it down. We obviously need to improve in a lot of ways. We’re hopeful we can spend the offseason getting better.”
With the cupboard relatively bare after the trades of Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, the pressure isn’t to try to pick up even more prospects in any transaction, but to shore up the bigleague roster.
“I wouldn’t rule out major-league-level talent. We need to add to our foundation any way we can,” Forst said. “There are a number of good young players coming up through the minor leagues. Their timetables are maybe not ’23 or even ’24, so if we’re going to get better in the major leagues, we need to be open to just about any conversation.”
To sort out next year’s lineup, the A’s will lean into some of the versatility on the roster. Seth Brown led the A’s in both homers (25) and RBIs (73) while playing four positions (first base and all three outfield spots), and will continue to move around the diamond.
“Seth’s versatility is of huge value to us,” Forst said. “Tony Kemp is in the same boat. So I don’t think we’ll sort of limit either guy to the infield or outfield. As we put our roster together, we know both Seth and Tony can be flexible.”
The A’s also need to fill a couple of vacancies on staff. Brad Ausmus told the A’s over the weekend he’s moving on after serving as bench coach under first-year manager Mark Kotsay, and head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta took a similar job with the Twins after 12 years in Oakland.
Forst said there are options inside the organization and out to fill the bench-coach opening. The team’s new trainer will be appointed from within.