The St. Louis Cardinals is looking to improve their catching situation this offseason, and Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy has been mentioned as a potential trade target on multiple occasions.
However, will the Cardinals ready to pay a “high price”?
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ESPN’s David Schoenfield proposed a trade between the Cardinals and the A’s in which St. Louis would get Murphy in exchange, but is the price too high?
Schoenfield proposed a one-for-one trade in this ESPN+ article detailing eight trades Schoenfield and Bradford Doolittle would like to see happen during the MLB Winter Meetings, in which St. Louis would receive Murphy and the A’s would receive Nolan Gorman.
Both the St. Louis Cardinals and the Oakland A’s would benefit from a one-for-one trade.
Murphy will bring three more years of team control to any team (including the Cardinals), which means he will be the backstop of the future wherever he ends up.
If St. Louis trades Gorman to Oakland, the A’s will have an infielder with MLB experience for the foreseeable future, as Gorman, 22, will not be a free agent until the 2029 season.
Gorman hit 226/.300/.420 in 283 at-bats, indicating plenty of room for improvement at the plate, and 14 home runs in 283 at-bats hint at the potential power he could bring to Oakland.
Last season, Gorman’s 14 home runs tied for fourth-most on the Cardinals, and Schoenfield believes the A’s could move him back to third base, where he was blocked by Nolan Arenado in St. Louis.
If the Cardinals sign a shortstop (with rumors swirling that they could be a fall-back option for Dansby Swanson if the Atlanta Braves are unable to retain him), Gorman will be left without a position.
In that case, a trade to Oakland would make sense. Murphy, on the other hand, is in high demand, so the Cardinals might not be able to wait to see where the free agent shortstop dominoes fall before making a move.
