Have the Atlanta Braves already made a mistake with Sean Murphy?

Trading for catcher Sean Murphy was the big splash for the Atlanta Braves this offseason, but is the club already making a huge mistake with the newcomer?

Landing Sean Murphy this offseason was not a mistake for the Atlanta Braves. Far from it, actually. While the club did have to part with Williams Contreras, among others, Atlanta brought in one of the best all-around catchers in baseball and then locked him up to a trademark Alex Anthopoulous extension that makes him part of the team’s young core.

As of now, though, the plan appears to be for Murphy and veteran Travis d’Arnaud to split time at catcher, per David O’Brien of The Athletic, with the other often slotting into the lineup as the DH when they aren’t in the field. In theory, that sounds good.

At the same time, though, it’s a tricky situation that could potentially have adverse effects on the Braves. Put simply, splitting time could rob Atlanta of getting the most out of the Murphy trade right away.

Braves splitting time between Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud at catcher could backfire

There is optimism that Murphy batting in the Braves’ loaded lineup could allow him to see an uptick at the plate. Over the past two seasons and over 250 games played, Murphy has slashed .236/.321/.417 with 60 doubles, 35 homers and 125 RBI. And again, this was in a pretty awful Oakland lineup.

At the same time, though, that uptick is not guaranteed, particularly not in terms of his on-base numbers, even if it should happen. Where he truly provides value, though, is behind the dish. His 162-game average for dWAR over his career has been 0.9, a high-quality number, especially at catcher.

O’Brien noted that Murphy would spend roughly six or seven games out of every 10 at catcher. That leaves three or four games out of 10 with d’Arnaud behind the plate. And d’Arnaud has been significantly worse defensively throughout his career with a negative dWAR 162-game average for his 10-year career.

What’s notable, though, is that d’Arnaud has been much more efficient in the batters box, slashing .266/.324/.462 over his three seasons with the Braves.

Conceivably, there’s a world where Atlanta could maximize the value of both Murphy and d’Arnaud by making the newcomer closer to an everyday starter at catcher with d’Arnaud primarily serving as the DH. That would mitigate any risks of Murphy not progressing as a hitter and allow him to be a plus asset defensively as the catcher. It would also put d’Arnaud in a favorable role as well.

The silver lining is that this is merely the plan as the team prepares for Spring Training. If it doesn’t look as if it’s working, then Brian Snitker could adjust the rotation in whatever way is necessary. So in that light, it’s definitely not a mistake being made with Murphy just yet. However, the potential is there for that to be the case, which is concerning for a club with legitimate World Series aspirations.