Houston Astros Finalize Deal with Yankees, Acquire Catcher Brian McCann

McCann put up a.242/.335/.413 slash line in 2016, and has a.235/.313/.418 slash line in his three years in NY.

In addition, NY cleared the way for Gary Sanchez to be their everyday catcher, after the rookie exploded on the scene with 20 home runs in 53 games in 2016.

Maybe this will also give John Sterling more time to work on his home run call for Sanchez. It was also reported this week that the Yankees are willing to trade away third baseman Chase Headley. Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira have retired while Aroldis Chapman, Brian McCann, Ivan Nova, Carlos Beltran, and Andrew Miller have all been traded, as general manager Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner have made a commitment to getting younger. He spent his first nine seasons with the Braves (2005-13) and the last three with the Yankees (2014-16). McCann will also serve as an upgrade in power, as he has surpassed the 20 home run threshold in every season dating back to 2008. McCann was in line to serve as the Yankees’ designated hitter, but he’ll likely be the everyday catcher in Houston.

If Encarnacion is looking for five years at $25 million per, as some in the industry believe, the Yankees will pass. Castro, however, left a lot to be desired at the plate. He finished the season with a.242 average, 20 homers and 58 RBIs. By trading McCann, the Yankees have pushed all their chips to the center of the table on Gary Sanchez, and two months of history just doesn’t seem like enough to me for a gut shot. The 21-year-old originally was signed by the Astros as a non-drafted free agent in 2013. “I wanted to be a part of it”, he said.

The player once traded straight up for Anthony Rizzo will take a one-year, million deal coming off a season in which he put up a 5.25 ERA in starts for both the Padres and Marlins. The option became McCann’s if he had at least 1,000 plate appearances combined in 2017 and 2018, had at least 90 starts at catcher in 2018 and didn’t end up that season on the disabled list. At the current moment, Guzman is sitting at the Rookie Ball level, pitching for the Greenville Astros of the Appalachian League.