Have the Oakland A’s overpriced Sean Murphy for the Cleveland Guardians?

The Oakland A’s may be out-pricing many teams with high demands for Sean Murphy

The Oakland A’s seem to think that Sean Murphy is the second coming of Mike Piazza or Ivan Rodriguez because they are surely asking for a lot for a career .236 hitter. Murphy is someone who can help a lot of clubs, but his age and lack of experience are working against him. He’s already 28, which is pretty old for a catcher, he’s only played one full season as a real starter, and is one of the least consistent hitters on the A’s.

Yes, he plays in a terrible park for hitting, but that’s generally for power-hitting. We’ve seen many hitters do well in the A’s stadium over the years. So I just don’t buy that the .271 away average is a more authentic view of who he is. After all, he hit just .234 in 2021, so it’s not like it’s a guarantee that he’ll just be a close to .280 hitter once he leaves Oakland.

He’s also highly valued for his defense, which is fair, as he’s in the Top 5 of every major defensive metric that FanGraphs tracks. That being said, the Guardians have not had a bad defensive catcher in some time, so that alone isn’t a selling point.

To be clear, I would like Sean Murphy in Cleveland, but the A’s are apparently asking for a lot for a guy who, frankly, has a short shelf life.

Sean Murphy is being highly overvalued by the Oakland A’s

It really doesn’t make sense for the A’s to be pursuing major league-caliber players. It’s not that they’re looking for vets, I think, I think they’re looking for young, major-league ready guys, or guys who just broke into the big leagues recently.

I know some people believe the A’s are closer to competing than not, but at 102 losses in 2022, and uncertainty about where they’re going to call home in the near future, it’s hard to say when the team will be able to start competing again.

They may be looking to dump a few guys like Murphy to jump-start that new era, but with Boy Naylor circling the Majors as we speak, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sacrifice a future with Naylor and other young prospects for a near-30-year-old whose peak has already been reached.

If the Guards can get him for Will Benson, Zach Plesac, and maybe one other piece; ok fine, but anything more than that should be a hard stop.