The Price for Sean Murphy

 Courtesy of the Twitter feed at Cleveland Guardians Prospective we have to following ask from the Oakland A's for St. Louis to get Sean Murphy:

Lars Nootbar

Brendan Donovan

Gordon Graceffo

While I am a diehard Guardians fan I spent more than half my life (and most of my adult life) in St. Louis so I follow them closely, too.  

From my perspective this would not be a big price to pay to get Murphy.  Maybe the Cardinals don't think that Murphy is worth this but I think it is a reasonable price.  Here's why:

If you don't follow the Cardinals closely you will not know that Nootbar was hitting about .150 when he was sent to the minors in the middle of 2022. When he came back he hit much better but, still... He is a fan favorite in St. Louis based on his clutch performances and his name (hear the fans cheering NOOOOOOOOOOOOTBAR).  He is also a classic Moneyball darling where OBP dominates hitting and stolen bases are not worth anything.  He is an OK but not great outfielder.   Basically, he is Steven Kwan-light.  Donavon won a Gold Glove as a swiss army knife and placed well in the NL ROY award voting.  Still, I have seen him all year and while he is likely going to be a valuable player it is as a Moneyball piece on a good team.  In other words, he is much more valuable to the Cardinals than he would be in a trade to a rebuilding team like the A's.  

Neither Nootbar or Donovan were listed on the BA top prospects (or other prospects) in the 2021 listing and Nootbar was #6 and Donovan #18 in the BA rating at the beginning of the 2022 season.  Graceffo was #15 for BA and is currently #3 in the Cardinals system (#79 in baseball by MLB Pipeline) with only 1/2 in AA.

In my opinion, NONE of these guys would be a big loss to the Cardinals and I can't believe that they wouldn't make this deal in a heartbeat.

That being said, I look this proposed trade and say I could beat it with the following package:

Logan T. Allen

Brayan Rocchio

Will Brennan

Juan Brito

I would make this deal in a heartbeat as none of these guys are needed in Cleveland right now or even, likely in the future.

I would throw in some more, obviously, to get AJ Puk included and that is still my goal.