The news last week of Brian McCann agreeing to a 5 year contract with the Yankees almost broke my Twitter feed. The feedback was almost unanimously positive and for good reason: he's an excellent player. Maybe the best position player FA not named Cano. It was not unexpected since rumors linking the catcher to New York had been loud and clear for weeks. It was Boston, Texas, and us but Boston was never really in it and Texas was distracted with the quandary of having one more good middle infielder than they could play at one time so guess what...it ended up us.
The contract was totally chalk: 5 years, $85 mil just like most were predicting. The Bombers traded a weakness for a strength with one signing. Last year their catchers collectively had the 12th worst OPS in the AL with just a .9 WAR. McCann can fall ass backwards into a 3-4 WAR season with his eyes closed so it was kind of a no brainer on the surface.
My big take on it is this: I'm fine with the move but not pleased. In the same way you win your money back in a poker tourney, I'm just kinda like "Not really what I wanted but at the same time it's silly to complain." I am on record of not wanting to sign qualifying free agents for anything less than a franchise type player, like Robbie Cano. McCann is not that. He's an All-Star caliber catcher and those guys hit the open market less frequently than any other position. BY FAR. His lefty-pull hitter swing is custom made for Yankee Stadium. Historically New York's championship teams were built on offense up the middle and he'll bring that back. So it's not terrible at all, but he's not quite the caliber player I like giving up draft picks for. His defense is 'eh'. He's a little injury prone, having missed 100 games past two years. There's already talk of moving him to first base in a couple years...that kind of talk doesn't excite me.
But here's why I can get on board: he's the kind of guy I want on this team. He's got backbone, something we haven't had in...umm...forever pretty much. I want somebody who will stand up for his teammates and say "you ain't doing that shit to my guy". He received a lot of criticism for the way he confronted Jose Fernandez and Carlos Gomez last year after showing up his pitchers. I like that. Bring that to New York please. We've been shrinking violets for years, notably against Boston. Hopefully he changes that.
And one other thing; a friend of mine who is a big Braves fan was furious Atlanta didn't try to re-sign him. He had become the face of the franchise post-Chipper Jones. If a fan of the player's former team is angry that his team let him walk, that's a good sign I'm going to like him being on my team.
One bit of site news: my first comp board for the 2014 draft should be ready in the next couple of days. I have 100 names, mostly HS. Unfortunately it won't be as relevant now that we don't have a first rounder, though that could change. Personally I think the number of qualifying FA we sign from this point will equal or exceed the number of QFA we lose, so I won't be holding my breath we get back into the 1st rd. And maybe that's a good thing. I'd much, MUCH rather see them load up on talent and punt this year's draft than have them go into next yr thinking they have to sign another QFA.
Alright folks, take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment