The Brian McCann Problem
In all fairness, 'problem' is a bit of an exaggeration to describe Brian McCann's current standing with the Yankees. On Wednesday, Joe Girardi told media members at Yankee Stadium that 23-year old rookie Gary Sanchez would be the everyday catcher moving forward and McCann would be the Yankees' primary DH. I did encounter one fan on Twitter who disagreed with this plan, saying it would decrease McCann's trade value, but otherwise Girardi's decision has been met with great approval -- and it's easy to understand why.
Gary Sanchez is the 6th @Yankees player since 1913 to hit 4+ HRs in his first 15 games https://t.co/nlwOY4mbDR pic.twitter.com/3t4TEguLQV
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 17, 2016
Sanchez blasted his fifth home run of the season on Wednesday, joining the elite duo of Steve Whitaker and Shelly Duncan at the top of the list. Each of The Kraken's five home runs have seemingly gone further than the previous, with the average HR traveling an impressive 417 feet. Your browser does not support iframes. If it's even possible, Sanchez' play behind the plate has been even more notable. We knew he could hit, as his .800 OPS and 99 home runs in the minors showed, but the rub on Sanchez was that he needed to improve as a backstop. In the limited time we've watched Sanchie (I promise to never call him that again, but I had to throw one Girardi-ism in here) he has shown great potential as a catcher.
In the 7 games he's caught, Sanchez has thrown out 3 base stealers. Not only does he look like a comfortable backstop (just try and remember how uncomfortable Jesus Montero looked) but he seems to work well with the pitchers. After Chad Green's 11 strikeout performance on Monday, he praised Sanchez for calling a great game and taking control behind the plate. The next night Michael Pineda labored through the first two innings, but Sanchez trotted-out to the mound during the second inning to calm the mentally-frail right hander down -- and it worked. Pineda cruised through five innings before Mother Nature rained on his and the Yankees' parade. What did Sanchez do at the plate during those two games, you ask? He went 5-for-7 with two blasts deep into the Yankee Stadium stands. The whole point of that exercise was to show that Joe Girardi and the Yankees are making the right decision with Sanchez and McCann. The future lies in youth, not aging veterans with large contracts or players who are retiring at the season's end.
Man crush on Gary Sanchez in full effect.
— Andrew (@Yankees_talk) August 17, 2016
Ok, now onto McCann. Brian McCann rarely does anything to overly impress Yankees fans, and the time's he has made fans scratch their heads have been equally as rare. He's just been average, which is not what the Yankees paid for when they inked McCann to a 5-year deal worth $85M. Three years into the 5 guaranteed and the Yankees clearly have a better option behind the dish -- the aforementioned Sanchez. To add to that, Austin Romine has played his way into a guaranteed roster spot as a valuable backup catcher in 2017. So where does that leave McCann? If McCann is to have a role on the Yankees next season it will be as the designated hitter. Originally, I thought the Yankees would have a greater need at first base and catcher considering Greg Bird will be returning from shoulder surgery that kept him off the field for an entire season and Romine appeared to be the only catcher who was big league ready. Now, a combination of Tyler Austin and Rob Refsnyder should be a sufficient backup at first, and a Sanchez/Romine catching duo in 2017 projects to be one of the Yankees strongest in years. The problem with McCann DH-ing is his declining production. Over two-plus seasons in pinstripes, McCann has a .727 OPS. Not only is that 96 points below his average in Atlanta, but it would rank him 9 out of 10 for all everyday designated hitters since 2014. Simply put, his offensive production does not warrant a DH role, especially at $17M annually.
McCann's contract is an issue -- a common theme among Yankees veterans. Any team looking to acquire Mac would do so because his value lies in his ability to catch. His .727 OPS behind the plate is not terrible; it ranks him in the upper third for all catchers since 2014, above stars like Yadier Molina and Salvador Perez. McCann also has incentive to waive his no-trade clause in order to be another teams' everyday catcher. He has a vesting option for $15M in 2019 that requires him to not only have 1,000 plate appearances in 2017 and 2018, but to catch 90 games in '18 -- something that will absolutely not happen on the Yankees. The Atlanta Braves, McCann's old team, who seems to be a dog chasing it's own tail, has been rumored to have interest in McCann. Any team willing to trade for him would probably look for the Yankees to eat some cash. Thirty four million bucks (at minimum) is a lot to invest in McCann, especially with the extraordinarily deep catching free agent market this offseason. If you're an opposing team, how much of McCann's contract are you asking the Yankees to eat? My guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of $10M, which would bring his price tag down to about $12M annually -- more in line with what comparable players like Molina and Perez will make over the next few seasons and slightly cheaper than the top free agent catchers (Matt Wieters and Jonathan Lucroy) will seek on the open market. The Yankees will already be paying Alex Rodriguez $21M next season not to DH for them, are they willing to add another $10M to that in order to have McCann off the roster?