We are still very early in the off-season for MLB and we have our first major trade of the off-season. According to several baseball insiders and confirmed by the New York Yankees public relations twitter account, they have traded catcher Brian McCann and cash considerations to the Houston Astros for pitchers Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman. This doesn’t come as a surprise because the Yankees have gotten rid of a lot of their older players who they owed money too. It is clear that the Yankees are now really working towards the future and are continuing to rebuild their farm system. Some of the inner workings of this deal are also being mentioned by Jon Heyman. According to Heyman, the Astros are going to be paying roughly $11.5 of McCann’s salary and the Yankees are paying $5.5m.
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Brian McCann is 32 years and is coming off a season where he hit 20 homers and drove in 58 RBIs. This trade actually becomes very beneficial for the Astros as now they get someone in that locker room who can become one of the veteran leaders on the team. According to several Astros insiders, the feeling is that McCann will end up catching roughly 50-60 games next season while he will back up Evan Gattis who will be the starter.
One thing that this brings up is that the Yankees are fully behind Gary Sanchez to take on most of the catching duty during the 2017 season. However, what will be interesting to see is who becomes the Yankees DH because it was supposed to be McCann. This could lead to possible a reunion with Carlos Beltran to be the DH. On the other side, the two prospects who the Yankees got are not terrible at all. I knew nothing about them, but thanks to my colleague Doug Rush, I found out a bit more on these two guys Apparently, one of the prospects who the Yankees got back is ranked 7th in the Astros farm system and also hits 99 mph on the radar gun.
It’s clear as day that the Yankees are really gearing towards the future as the oldest player is CC Sabathia and who knows how much longer he has left in the tank. It will be a wait and see with him. But overall, great trade on both ends as both teams address needs. Who knows what else will come through with the off-season as it’s just getting started.