The Cleveland Guardians appear to have thrown their hats in the ring for the services of Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy, via a potential trade.
Sources tell Jon Morosi of the MLB Network that “Guardians [are] among the most active suitors for Athletics catcher Sean Murphy, the 2021 Gold Glove winner who could be dealt by the end of the Winter Meetings.”
Murphy has already generated a ton of interest from other ball clubs even before this update from Morosi. Prior to that, it was reported that the likes of the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox were also looking in the direction of Murphy, who came in 22nd in the MVP balloting last season. Murphy has been one of the most reliable catchers in the league at the plate over the last few years. He has posted an OPS+ of at least 120 in all but one of his four seasons, so far in the majors. In 2022, Murphy slashed .250/.332/.426with career-highs in home runs (18) and RBI (66) across 148 games and 612 plate appearances.
There are not a lot of salivating catcher options in the market in the offseason, with Willson Contreras and Christian Vazquez headlining the position, so Murphy could potentially see even more interest in addition to that of the Guardians, Red Sox, and the White Sox.
The Guardians utilized Austin Hedges as their catcher for the most part in the 2022 MLB season but he only batted .163/.241/.248 as part of Cleveland's catchers room that ranked 24th overall in the big leagues with a -0.2 fWAR and 29th in wRC+.
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