Braves waste no time locking up Sean Murphy as part of core

Just two weeks after trading for catcher Sean Murphy, the Braves have locked up the young rising star to another big-time extension for the club. 

The Atlanta Braves did it again.

Over the past few years, general manager Alex Anthopoulos has been famous for his ability to lock up young stars to long-term contracts that tend to lean toward the team-friendly side of things. So when the club pulled off a trade on Dec. 12 that landed Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy from the Oakland A’s, many wondered how long it would take for AA to add him to the long-term core of the Braves.

It took just a day over two weeks. On Tuesday night, the franchise announced on Twitter that they’d agreed to a six-year contract extension with the potential to be a seven-year deal.

Braves Sean Murphy contract details: Atlanta adds catcher to young core

The extension, per the Braves’ release and FanSided’s Robert Murray, is a six-year, $73 million contract that will run through the 2028 season. There is also a $15 million club option for the 2029 season that would make it a seven-year, $88 million pact. The structure of the contract will see Murphy make $4 million this season, $9 million in 2024, and $15 million in the following four-to-five seasons. The catcher will also donate 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves Foundation.

With Murphy now on the books until at least 2028, the Braves now have one of the strongest cores in baseball locked up for the long term and on extremely friendly deals. Austin Riley is signed through 2034, Matt Olson until 2031, Ronald Acuña Jr. until 2029, Spencer Strider until 2030, Michael Harris II until 2033, Raisel Iglesias until 2026 and Ozzie Albies until 2028 as well.

Though there were some fans upset with giving up William Contreras in the trade for Murphy, the newcomer with a shiny new extension has been a stud for the A’s as he’s been arguably the best two-way catcher in baseball outside of J.T. Realmuto. That’s a fantastic piece to lock up for this core and the future continues to be extremely bright for the Braves.