The Cleveland Guardians dodged a bullet by avoiding a Sean Murphy trade

Sitting out the Sean Murphy trade was the right call for the Cleveland Guardians

What was Atlanta thinking by making that Sean Murphy trade? I mean, they traded a 24-year-old All-Star William Contreras, who whacked 20 home runs in just 300 at-bats, for a 28-year-old, with far less power and a higher price tag. I’m shocked. This was the dumbest decision I’ve seen play out in real-time and thank God, the Cleveland Guardians did not get involved in this extortion.

The Atlanta Braves basically said they don’t like young catchers, with power and upside, and hooked up with the Milwaukee Brewers to pull off the trade to get Murphy from the Oakland Athletics.

The A’s got four Top-18 prospects, three from the Braves, and one from the Brewers. The Brewers got Contreras and Titan slayer Justin Yaeger from the Braves while getting Joel Payamps from the A’s. The Braves get Murphy.

And a legion of questions.

Here’s the deal according to MLB.com

"A’s:OF Esteury Ruiz from Brewers (club’s No. 8-ranked prospect)LHP Kyle Muller from Braves (club’s No. 1-ranked prospect)RHP Freddy Tarnok from Braves (club’s No. 6-ranked prospect)RHP Royber Salinas from Braves (club’s No. 18-ranked prospect)C Manny Pina from BravesBraves:C Sean Murphy from A’sBrewers:C William Contreras from BravesRHP Justin Yeager from BravesRHP Joel Payamps from A’s"

Sean Murphy was not worth the haul and the Cleveland Guardians avoided this messy situation

If the Braves don’t win a World Series before Murphy declines and or leaves, everyone is getting fired for this. Yes, Murphy is a defensive upgrade over Contrerars according to advanced stats, but Contreras is younger, has a higher offensive ceiling and the team already had a great defensive catcher in Travis d’Arnaud, who still has two years left on his deal.

I understand that d’Arnaud is in his 30s and costs a big chunk of change, but to give up three of your best prospects, including your top pitching prospect in Kyle Muller, as well as a fourth very good young player in Contreras, for one dude, who is nearly 30, who has played 120 games in a season just once in his life, with a limited offensive ceiling, is pure lunacy.

Yes, Murphy is a Top 5 defensive catcher over the last two years. That is in no way a reason to give up your top pitching prospect. If the Guardians had made this move, I would be marching, by myself admittedly, around Progressive Field until everyone was fired.

I am shocked that the Braves would mortgage their future for a .236 career hitter.