The Tampa Bay Rays have gotten out to a historic start to their season. Image if they had Sean Murphy behind the plate? While the Rays were interested, new reports detail exactly why Tampa Bay didn't trade for Murphy.

To trade for Murphy, the Oakland Athletics would've likely required prospects Taj Bradley and Kyle Manzardo in the deal, via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. When the Rays balked at that asking price, Oakland promptly traded Murphy to the Atlanta Braves.

Bradley ranks as the best prospect in Tampa Bay's organization while Manzardo ranks fourth, via MLB Pipeline. Furthermore, Bradley is rated as the 18th best prospect in baseball while Manzardo sits 65th. With the Rays having an outstanding 29-9 record, they have talent in spades for years to come.

Taj Bradley has already been able to make a difference at the MLB level. Since his call up, the right-hander has started three games, pitching to a 3-0 record with a 3.52 ERA and a 23/2 K/BB ratio. While Manzardo hasn't gotten his call yet, he is tearing it up in AAA. Through 29 games, the first baseman is hitting .286 with five home runs and 15 RBI.

Sean Murphy has been outstanding since his trade to the Braves. He is hitting .299 with nine home runs and 32 RBI since joining Atlanta. He would've made Tampa an even scarier offense.

However, the Rays decided to value their future. Clearly Bradley and Manzardo have a chance to be major differences for Tampa in the future. The Rays might have missed out on Murphy, but Bradley and Manzardo is a helluva consolation prize.