With Sean Murphy no longer an option, the Houston Astros have reportedly moved onto their next catcher target.
There has been some quick movement on the catcher market recently. Days after Willson Contreras signed a five-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Atlanta Braves made the move for Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy in a three-team trade on Monday. That three-team trade also dealt William Contreras from Atlanta to the Milwaukee Brewers. To wrap things up on Monday, the Minnesota Twins and free agent Christian Vazquez agreed to terms on a three-year contract. Get all of that?
The Houston Astros have notably been in the market for a catcher this offseason, as they just have Martin Maldonado under contract on a major league deal. Well, it appears that they have moved to their backup plan.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Astros have engaged in trade talks with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Daulton Varsho, their outfielder and catcher. Nightengale notes, however, that the asking price “remains steep.”
Astros reportedly talking Daulton Varsho trade with Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks have reportedly been open to trading some of their young outfielder, Varsho among them, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Varsho is just 26 years old and is under team control. Given that, and his numbers this past season, are reason why the price could be heavy to acquire him.
Varsho played in 151 games for the Diamondbacks this past season, 31 of which were as a catcher. But given his hitting numbers, the Astros could use him behind home plate or in the outfield.
In the batter’s box, Varsho recorded a .235 batting average, a .302 on-base percentage, a .443 slugging percentage, 27 home runs, 74 RBI, 79 runs scored, and 125 hits.
Given that this is an Astros team looking to pry open their championship window, it’s hard to envision them backing out of a trade. But we’ll wait and see if they, or any team, can convince the Diamondbacks to trade away their promising outfielder and catcher.