The prick will probably good for starting 2 or 3 bench clearing brawls per season by trying to enforce unwritten rules that nobody else cares about.
I imagine part of the price will be for his experience. I know that isn't a very "sabermetrics" way of looking at it, but I think there is stuff you have to consider when building a team besides raw stats.
Payroll (post arbitration projections) only sits at around $95MM. They still have so much more flexibility to add significant talent.
Catchers are expensive. It always seems you have to overpay for them. But a quality Catcher is vital for success. Gattis is going to catch 50-75 games and McCann starts the rest. And both figure into the DH equation. Castro was a dud on offense, and that's a shame because I was hopeful he'd reach the high expectation we all had for him. McCann should be better offensively with a little less defense than Castro. i think this is a good trade for the Astros.
Joel Sherman @Joelsherman1 McCann's agentt BB Abbott just told me that it was not an easy decision for McCann to waive no trade, but did so because 1) still wants to play regularly 2) thinks Astros can win and wants to be part of that. McCann has been told by Astros that he will be the primary catcher, which means Gattis is backup plus DH. Abbott: "At the end of the day (McCann) made the decision he still had something left in the tank and wants to catch."
What a weird thing to be upset about. If anything, I think the Astros need more guys willing to mix it up a little bit. We are Charmin soft right now which is why a team like the Rangers can come in here and show us their pimp hand.
There's not much to dislike about this trade. Offensive numbers for Astros C position could be top 5-7 in all of baseball. McCann wasn't great defensively last year but he has a track record of being solid. He has 2 years left on his deal, age 33 and 34 seasons. As long as last year wasn't the beginning of a drastic decline this will be a good addition at a premium position.
That toughness and leadership is exactly what we needed. Excellent trade. Abreu could be a stud but worth the gamble here. I can't wait for McCann to accidentally trip Odor and step on his face.
That isn't toughness, and it isn't leadership. Carlos Correa is a leader. Jose Altuve is a leader. Dallas Keuchel is a leader.