The waiver wire trade deadline is set for August 31
st
and unlike the August 1
st trading deadline this deadline is whole
lot more complicated with a whole lot more moving parts. First a player must
clear revocable waivers where he can be claimed, and revoked or brought back
off waivers, before he can be traded and Brian McCann did just that this week.
Will the Yankees trade him? Honestly, and I’ve written about this already this
season, I don’t think that they should but for argument’s sake let’s say that
they do. Here are a few teams presumably still looking for catching help that
could bite on the right deal or a deal where the Yankees ate some salary.
Five teams immediately come to mind when I think of potential
landing spots for McCann because these are the five teams that were most
notably looking for catching help before the August 1st trading
deadline but did not pull off a deal for one. That list includes the New York
Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Houston Astros and the
Cleveland Indians. All these teams are playoff contenders with the exception of
the Braves of course but Atlanta could want McCann for the same reasons I laid
out over the weekend, you keep a veteran catcher during a rebuild to work with
your young pitchers and to build relationships and confidence.
The Mets currently employ Travis d’Arnaud at the position
but judging by their attempt to acquire Jonathan Lucroy before the deadline you
can see the team is not sold on him. The problem is the Mets system is pretty
weak by all accounts, especially with MLB ready or close to MLB ready
prospects, while the team is likely to also want the Yankees to eat some salary
in any potential deal. The Yankees needs either salary relief and less
prospects or good prospects for McCann and I can’t see the Mets giving the
Bombers either unfortunately.
The Atlanta Braves are in the same boat as the Mets when it
comes to the ability and willingness to eat salary. The Braves talked to the
Yankees prior to the deadline about McCann and basically refused to take on the
salary of their former catcher thus closing the door on any potential deal. The
Braves have the prospects to get this done but the difference here is the
Braves don’t have to get it done, and that will affect what they are willing to
and will ultimately pay if a deal were to take place. I consider Atlanta to be
a Plan B, Plan C or lower if the Yankees are simply motivated to move him just
to move him.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are listed here because the Los
Angeles Dodgers are always listed as interested for every available free agent
and trade target. They are greedy like that and I can appreciate that
personally. Anyway, the Dodgers do have some genuine interest in improving
their team and especially improving their catching situation as they find
themselves in a dog fight with the San Francisco Giants atop the NL West
Division race. McCann makes their catching situation better and their offense
much better almost immediately if a deal is made, and a deal could be made due
to the fact that the Dodgers can afford to absorb the salary and they also have
enough in their farm system to make the Yankees happy. Just no Yasiel Puig,
please?
While the Dodgers are chasing down the Giants the Astros are
going in the opposite direction in both the division standings and the Wild
Card standings as well. Currently at the catcher position the Astros have a DH
acting as a part-time catcher in Evan Gattis and a defensive-minded and
defense-only catcher in Jason Castro so the need for an offensive catcher is
extremely apparent. McCann would be a huge upgrade and a shot in the arm for
Astros playoff push and Houston could absolutely afford to take the hit both in
terms of salary and in terms of prospects.
Finally you have the Cleveland Indians, the Yankees couldn’t
pillage their farm system one more time this season. Could they? The Brewers
agreed to trade Jonathan Lucroy to the Indians before Lucroy refused to waive
his no-trade clause and Cleveland never acquired a catcher before the deadline
leaving these two teams once again a match for a potential trade. Brian Cashman
has to be familiar with the Indians farm system and the Yankees seem to be
motivated to move him so this could also be a potential landing spot for the
Yankees catcher.
The Yankees have at least five potential landing spots for
McCann now that he has cleared revocable waivers. McCann would obviously have
to accept any trade because of his no-trade clause but the Yankees have options
here. Does that necessarily mean a trade will happen? Lord no. That’s a lot of
money left on the table and nothing is ever easy when a full no-trade clause is
involved but the options are there and that is at least encouraging.
