Can the Cleveland Guardians land catcher Sean Murphy?

Now that the Cleveland Guardians have brought in first baseman Josh Bell, the focus has now shifted back to the dire need for a catcher. With the loss of Austin Hedges and the inexperience of prospect Bo Naylor, the Guardians are in need of a star catcher.

The front office addressed the need for a first baseman by bringing in Bell, but the focus now shifts towards the potential of Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy.

Murphy, 28, has multiple years of team control remaining at such a prime age, and would provide a team with exponential talent. He is one of the few catchers remaining that can be a slugger at the plate and provide elite defense.

In 2022, he averaged .250 from the plate to go alongside 134 hits, 66 RBIs, 37 doubles and 18 home runs. His bat would fill the void that would show up when Hedges would be in the lineup for the Guardians.

Hedges finished the season with much worse numbers that Murphy, averaging .163 from the plate to go alongside 48 hits, 30 RBIs, four doubles and seven home runs.

With the numbers proving to be a massive difference, the offer for Murphy would certainly be high.

The Guardians would need to give up a multitude of prospects to bring in a player like Murphy.

What would a trade package for Sean Murphy look like?

While this package may be a massive haul for Oakland, the return for Murphy would have to be big.

For the Guardians, Naylor has been an unproven prospect with the potential to be great, Bibee has not proven to be in the Guardians' future, and the major-league roster is stacked with outfield prospects so the pathway for Valera is small.

Each of these three prospects has been in the minors for a while now and a fresh start may be exactly what they need.

As the trade tension continues to grow, only time will tell if the Guardians would be able to solidify their roster with a star catcher.