SAN DIEGO -- Another day, another rumor involving the D-backs at the MLB Winter Meetings.

One day after the D-backs were linked to free agent shortstop Xander Bogaerts, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported that the club has discussed a trade with the A's involving catcher Sean Murphy.

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On the surface, it would seem like a bit of stretch, given that the D-backs have Carson Kelly behind the plate and general manager Mike Hazen has said throughout the offseason that if the D-backs acquired a catcher, it would most likely be in a backup role to Kelly.

Murphy is not a backup catcher.

The 28-year-old had a slash line of .250/.332/.426 in 148 games last year and has three years of club contractual control left before free agency.

Because of his age, years of control and production, Murphy is being sought by a number of teams.

One thing that works in the D-backs’ favor is that one of Oakland’s biggest needs is a center fielder, and the D-backs have a surplus of outfielders who can play center. So there could be a fit there for both sides.

The D-backs have four left-handed-hitting outfielders who can play center: Corbin Carroll, Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas. Teams have been told that Carroll is not available, but the D-backs seem open to trading one of the other three in order to fill other needs.

"We're exploring ways to make ourselves better, and I don't know how that's going to come together -- and we're in maybe markets that aren't [expected]," Hazen said when asked if his team was in the market for a catcher. "So there are other positions, too, that we've had that conversation about. I think this is part of that, too. I feel like it's our responsibility to explore every way we can to make our team better, but we're not close to anything."

Three years of club control remaining, Hazen indicated, would be the minimum required for any player they would deal one of their outfielders for.

It has been said many times that Arizona's young outfielders have gotten the most interest from other teams, but the team has also received a lot of inquiries on young starting pitchers like Tommy Henry, Ryne Nelson, Drey Jameson and Brandon Pfaadt, to name a few.

While it seems like there's a decent chance the D-backs move one of their outfielders, it's far less likely they would do so with a young starting pitcher.

As of now, the D-backs have Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Madison Bumgarner in their rotation, with Henry, Nelson, Jameson and Pfaadt among those competing for spots next spring.

"The young pitching is extremely hard for us to start with because it fills out the bottom of our rotation," Hazen said. "And we've seen what happens when we don't have any starting pitching. [The young starting pitchers] all have a ton of value. So we would do well on a trade because there's no young starting pitching available via trade, unless you're trading like a stud player. So to acquire a young starting pitcher is extremely difficult from a value standpoint, and so vice versa, we would have a very high value on those guys."