For the second straight offseason, A’s general manager David Forst is having serious discussions with multiple teams about trading his best young player – catcher Sean Murphy this time. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be business as usual for the frugal A’s at the Winter Meetings, though.

Forst heads to San Diego Sunday with the hope of actually signing some free agents.Plus, the A’s have the best shot of any team of leaving the meetings with one of the top prizes available.

But temper those expectations. These are still John Fisher’s A’s, whose 26-man roster at the end of last season earned a total of $15 million and who currently have an active payroll of … $0! (We’ll explain in a bit).

Any A’s offers made to free agents will be for reduced-priced or undervalued players. There are no Trea Turners or Carlos Correas on a shopping list for a franchise that’s never spent as much as $40 million on a free-agent deal of any length.

And that top prize we’re alluding to? It will be the one awarded at MLB’s first draft lottery on Tuesday night. The A’s share the best odds (16.5%) of securing the No. 1 overall pick with the Nationals and Pirates, baseball’s two other worst teams last year. Depending on their lottery luck, the A’s could draft as low as No. 8.

But a top draft pick next summer won’t provide immediate help for an A’s team fresh off its second 100-loss season in its 54 years in Oakland. Forst is anxious to make improvements while facing his first big test as the A’s new head of baseball operations after Billy Beane stepped aside.

“We obviously know that we need to do better on the field in Oakland,” Forst told reporters recently. “We are having lots of conversations … to try and get better. Whether that’s through trades or free agency, we’ll see.”

As Forst gears up to make some moves this winter, here’s a look at what may be in play for the A’s when baseball’s executives gather from Sunday through Wednesday:

Trades: Murphy as good as gone?

Murphy, a Gold Glove winner and Silver Slugger Award finalist who has emerged as one of the game’s top catchers, still has three more years of team control. But he will likely be traded before the season, perhaps as soon as next week. He’s the A’s lone major trade chip remaining after they dealt stars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman last offseason. It’s all part of their familiar cycle of dealing young stars when their value is highest in exchange for prospects who may become their next wave of stars.

The Guardians are reportedly the most aggressive of Murphy’s many suitors, who include the Cardinals, Twins, Rays, Padres, Red Sox, Braves, Cubs and White Sox, according to various reports. The A’s already have his replacement in 25-year-old Shea Langeliers, acquired from Atlanta in the Olson deal. Langeliers showed glimpses of stardom, hitting six homers in 40 games and impressing with his defensive acumen behind the plate.

Outfielder/first baseman Seth Brown has also drawn trade interest after leading the A’s with 25 homers and 73 RBIs. “Seth’s a popular guy, for sure,” Forst told the MLB Network. But Forst sounds content to hang onto the 30-year-old Brown, who hit 15 homers with a .507 slugging percentage and .855 OPS in the second half. “He made such a leap in the second half … his offense took to the next level and I look forward to him doing that in Oakland next year,” he said.

Forst realizes he’ll need to surround Brown with more quality hitters to fix an Oakland offense that was worst in the majors last year in on-base percentage (.281), batting average (.216) and OPS (.626) and second to last in runs scored (3.5 per game). Getting a major league-ready hitter in return for a potential Murphy deal sure sounds like a sound idea.

Free agency: Why the A’s might have to spend money

First, let’s clear up why the A’s current payroll sits at $0. The simple answer isn’t that they’re cheap – even though they are the only team without at least one player armed with a multi-year deal. The A’s are in the incredibly rare position of having none of the players on their 40-man roster with a signed contract yet for the 2023 season.

Only their four arbitration-eligible players – second baseman/outfielder Tony Kemp (projected salary of $3.9 million), outfielder Ramon Laureano (projected $3.6M), Murphy (projected $3.5M) and pitcher Paul Blackburn ($1.9M) — will earn much more than the major league minimum of $720,000. The rest of their 33 players will have their contracts renewed at somewhere around the minimum before Opening Day, adding up to a projected payroll of $30.4 million, easily the game’s lowest.

Forst says he’s ready to dip into the free-agent market and hinted the A’s payroll will climb this season. What’s left unspoken is the A’s may not have a choice but to start spending money.

After being gradually phased out of receiving revenue-sharing payments in 2019, the A’s are now back to being recipients of financial support from MLB, which sympathizes with the team’s financial hurdles as it pursues a new ballpark. The A’s can expect to get more than enough “baseball welfare” funds to cover their current projected 2023 payroll, and likely much more.

Another $30 million gift is on its way to the A’s — and every other team — from MLB selling the last shares of its streaming video company to Disney earlier this week in a $900 million deal. That sale prompted the players union to warn it would be watching to see whether teams would re-invest that money into their payrolls.

The A’s spending habits have been questioned before by the players union. Four years ago, the players union filed a still-unresolved grievance against the A’s and three other teams (Rays, Pirates and Marlins), complaining those teams didn’t properly allocate revenue-sharing funds toward their payrolls.

It should be a moot point this time with the A’s intending to pursue free agents.

Among the potential fits for Oakland include former All-Star slugger Joey Gallo, who had a dreadful 2022 season and is seeking a short-term, bounce-back opportunity. Gallo, 29, had an unsightly slash line of .159/.291/.368 in 421 at-bats last year with the Yankees and Dodgers. It might be worth it for the A’s to see if Gallo can recapture his home run stroke that produced back-to-back 40-home run seasons in 2017-18.

Meanwhile, Brandon Drury could be another potential fit for the A’s at what could be a reasonable cost. The 30-year-old can play first, second and third base as well as some outfield. He batted .263/.320/.492 with 28 home runs and 87 RBIs for the Reds and Padres.

It would be easy to envision him hitting in the middle of the A’s order while bouncing around to different positions.