When a was announced last December that saw ten different players change hands, it was hardly surprising that s move to Atlanta received the lions share of the focus, particularly considering the fact that Murphy inked a with the Braves just two weeks later. After all, rumors of the As looking to move on from their franchise catcher had circulated for weeks at that point and the Braves, who were coming off a 101-win season that was ultimately cut short during the NLDS, were an interesting landing spot. Nine months later, its unlikely the Braves have any regrets about the deal. Murphy has taken a step forward with the bat in Atlanta, slashing a sensational .278/.387/.538 with a career-best wRC+ of 149 that when combined with his typical stellar defense behind the plate has allowed the 28-year-old All-Star to rack up 4.3 fWAR in just 87 games this season. Meanwhile, the Braves are the consensus best team in baseball with giving the club an incredibly 26.5% chance at winning the World Series this year. While Atlantas Joe Morgan Jersey succe s both in this season and in landing Murphy is impre sive in its own right, the Braves are not the only winner of this trade to this point in the season. Indeed, they may not even be the biggest winner of the deal so far. Thats because the Brewers, the requisite third team needed to help facilitate the deal, managed to turn their #8 prospect in outfielder into five seasons of an All-Star catcher of their own, plus an excellent set-up man and an additional pitching prospect to boot. En route to a breakout season with Atlanta during which he made his first career All-Star appearance, catcher shared time behind the plate with while also mixing in at DH and even in the outfield. In all, he slashed an impre sive .278/.354/.506 with 20 home runs in just 376 trips to the plate. While that impre sive display of power combined with Contrerass 10.4% walk rate was enough to make him the 12th most valuable catcher in all of baseball last year, there were reasons to wonder if the youngster would be able to maintain his production going forward. Contrerass 27.7% strikeout rate left plenty of reason for concern, as was a ma sive .344 BABIP. With those potential red flags signalling po sible regre sion in Contrerass future, its hardly a surprise to find that his .370 wOBA in 2022 outstripped his .347 xwOBA considerably. Far more concerning than his offensive numbers, which were excellent for a catcher even if they regre sed to match his expected numbers, was his glovework behind the plate. In 2022, Contreras was worth -7 runs per , with negative marks in each of framing, stealing, and blocking. His framing, in particular, left much to be desired, as he landed in just the 20th percentile of all catchers in terms of catcher framing runs, with only 3 catchers in the sport posting a worse figure than Contrerass -3 without receiving more pitches than him. agreed with that a se sment, as Contrerass -4 mark put him in the bottom 20 of all catchers last year. With so many questions regarding Contrerass fielding and his ability to maintain last years excellent offensive production, it makes perfect sense for the Braves to prefer a fully developed, surefire starting catcher in the form of Murphy. That preference created a window of opportunity for the Brewers, however, who had just lost their current starting catcher, , to free agency. The club had a history of helping bat-first catchers develop defensively, including with Narvaez himself. This year, Milwaukee has managed to add Contreras to their list of defensive succe s stories behind the plate. Its been a transformational year defensively for Contreras, as the youngster has soared to an excellent +8 runs per Statcast, with his catcher framing runs in particular leaping from -3 all the way up to +7, the seventh-best mark in the sport this year behind only defensive stalwarts like Murphy, , and . Once again, DRS backs up Contrerass improvement behind the dish as well, as his +7 DRS leaves him as the eighth most valuable defensive catcher in baseball according to the metric, even clocking in ahead of Murphy. Contrerass defense is clearly the star of the show when discu sing his year-to-year improvement, but his offensive adjustments deserve a mention as well. While he has undergone some expected offensive regre sion from his All-Star campaign in 2022, particularly in the power department, his current production is not only still excellent for a catcher (his 113 wRC+ ranks 6th among catchers with at least 300 PA this season) but also appears far more sustainable going forward. His BABIP has dipped to a le s outlandish .327 figure, but most importantly, Contreras has cut his strikeout rate to just 20.4%, a figure thats actually better than league average. While his walk rate has dipped slightly and he isnt hitting for as much power this season, this new version of Contreras is posting a strong .341 wOBA that matches his .338 xwOBA, indicating a level of sustainability that couldnt be found in last seasons power-driven numbers. Contreras isnt the only player the Brewers received in last years trade, of course. While pitching prospect has managed just 2 1/3 innings of work this season while spending almost the entire year on the injured list, right-handed reliever has also proved to be a revelation with Milwaukee, though not quite as impactful of one as Contreras. Payamps came to the Brewers as a solid if unexciting middle reliever, with a career 3.35 ERA and 4.19 FIP in 113 innings of work with the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Royals, and As. Since joining the Brewers, however, hes looked like a different pitcher entirely. His walk rate dipped from a career 7.6% mark entering 2023 to just 5% this season, while his strikeout rate ballooned from a career mark of just 17.6% entering the year to an incredible 29.3% figure with Milwaukee. Those improvements are seemingly thanks to a combination of acro s-the-board velocity gains and change in his pitch-mix to emphasis his slider. Payamps step forward has allowed the Brewers to rely on him as the primary set-up man to closer , forming a lethal duo at the back of the clubs bullpen. As with any trade, a few months isnt enough time to understand the full scope of the impact last years three-team blockbuster will have on the clubs involved. Ruiz, who has posted a wRC+ of just 81 with Oakland this year but has offered plus defense in center field and swiped a whopping 48 bags, could prove to be a valuable piece in the coming years and change the perception of the deal. True as that may be, however, Milwaukees front office is surely delighted with the early returns on the deal, particularly considering they control Payamps through the end of the 2026 campaign and Contreras through the end of 2027. Aaron Brown Jersey