Brian McCann is an Astro! Josh Reddick is an Astro!: Rapid Reaction
Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
The Yankees have traded catcher Brian McCann and about $11 million of his salary to the Astros for minor league pitchers Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman.
For the Astros:
All in all a pretty solid deal. McCann will now share catching duties with Evan Gattis, giving Houston a solid offensively minded duo. Neither McCann nor Gattis can catch every day but between the two, they should have things pretty much covered.
I also like this deal because McCann is an experienced and respected veteran and has spent a lot of time working with some of baseball’s best pitchers. The Astros are pretty well stocked with talented pitchers but they are mostly young and all have struggled. McCann might be able to play an important role in getting Dallas Kuechel back on track and shepherding Lance McCullers through his growing pains. At the very least, Brian is a steadier hand than Gattis’ when it comes to handling the pitching staff and leading a young team.
As I type, word is coming in that the Astros have signed Josh Reddick to a 4 year, $52 million deal. Clearly, Houston is going for it: McCann and Reddick are two veteran players that will help them reload and bounce back from a difficult 2016.
Reddick is a hit-or-miss middle of the order bat. He’s a low average, decent power guy- kind of a rich man’s Colby Rasmus, and that’s a pretty good fit for a team with a couple of high average/ high on base guys at the top of the order in Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa.
Reddick was one of the most coveted outfielders in a thin market and the Astros took the plunge. It’s a risk but the money isn’t insane.
For the Yankees:
Eh. It’s nice to dump McCann’s contract...
Read the rest of this post over at Off the Bench here.
