My Thoughts Following the Brian McCann Trade

When I heard the news that the New York Yankees had traded away catcher Brian McCann to the Houston Astros for two right-handed starting pitchers on Thursday, one we have already met this morning in Albert Abreu and the other we will meet in a few hours in Jorge Guzman, I had a bit of bittersweet emotions hit me. I tried to put those into words on twitter when I talked about the trade but you guys know me by now, I cannot be contained to merely 140 characters. I like to talk so here are my thoughts on the Brian McCann to Houston trade from Thursday.

First, let me be frank. I love the direction that the team and the organization is going. I have preached for God knows how many years that the Yankees had to stop relying on veteran players leaving or well past their primes and instead need to focus on building and using their farm system. After ranting and raving about that on various forums, emails, Twitter and now blog posts it seems like they are finally listening so of course I am quite happy about that but as a fan you tend to get attached to players at the same time and hate to see them leave.

The entire year before Brian McCann came over via free agency I blogged about him and the need for him in pinstripes. As a former New Yorker who now calls Atlanta “home” I’ve seen plenty of McCann and knew what he would bring to the table in New York and I made it my life’s goal to blog about it until he donned pinstripes. I was ecstatic when he was signed and I immediately went out and bought a pair of #34 Yankees away jerseys (you know, because I live in Atlanta so I only buy away jerseys anymore). Now here I am stuck with two nameless jerseys because one of my favorite players is gone.

I’m happy for McCann, don’t get me wrong, because he wanted an opportunity to play every day and an opportunity to catch as much as possible and he can’t exactly have that in New York right now but it’s a bittersweet moment for me. I loved what McCann brought to the team, the staff and the clubhouse and while the more I read the more I get really, really excited for these two prospects I just can’t bring myself to committing to being 100% happy or upset with this trade either way. Again, I love the direction and the plan the team is following through with right now but at the same time I really liked McCann wearing pinstripes catching CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka and others over the past couple of years.

Thank you for all the memories Mac!