Veteran Braves backstop Brian McCann hasn’t yet decided on his future but feels great in the present, he tells David O’Brien of The Athletic (subscription link) as part of a lengthy and entertaining chat. The 35-year-old backstop would say only that “we’ll see what happens” when pressed on his intentions for playing beyond the current campaign. It certainly seems like a tempting proposition for McCann, who says he “feel[s] amazing” after undergoing knee surgery last year. While he has had some ups and downs at the plate this season, McCann carries a solid .257/.328/.427 batting line over 198 plate appearances and has been an excellent value for the Braves at $2MM. His ongoing knee health seems to bode well for the organization down the stretch.
More on a few health situations from around the game …
- The White Sox announced today that they have activated catcher Welington Castillo. He ended up missing about a month with an oblique strain. It remains to be seen how the Chicago org will allocate playing time, but odds are James McCann will continue to receive the lion’s share of the duties behind the dish. Castillo could conceivably be moved later this month, if only because teams will be looking to stash depth in advance of the single trade deadline, but he won’t hold much appeal given his ugly .196/.289/.364 slash. The veteran backstop is also earning a hefty $7.25MM this year and is owed a $500K buyout on a $8MM club option for 2020. The White Sox may also just hang tight and see if their club can make a surprise run at a Wild Card slot.
- Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco won’t bounce back to the majors quite as quickly as had been hoped. As Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, Polanco was pulled from a rehab contest with left shoulder tightness. For now, the club only intends to give him a brief rest without interrupting the rehab assignment. As Mackey notes, the timing is of some consequence to the Bucs. The club is in a tough spot as the trade deadline approaches, having slipped into the NL Central cellar. It’s arguably positioned to sell a left-handed-hitting outfielder regardless of what else it does — highly paid pending free agent Corey Dickerson seems a particular candidate — but it’ll be tough to pull the trigger on a deal if there’s uncertainly regarding Polanco’s availability.
- As expected, Yankees righties Luis Severino and Dellin Betances resumed throwing yesterday, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports. Indications are that all went well for both hurlers in limited sessions, designed only to begin reintroducing their strained lats to the rigors of the MLB mound. Severino told reporters that he’d be willing to work back in a relief capacity if that’s the organization’s preference. While that’d bring him aboard quicker, it probably isn’t the optimal outcome for a club that has a need for quality rotation pieces and can probably afford to be patient.
I hope the Braves extend McCann through next season for another $2 mill. I figure it’s Braves or retirement for him.
Keep McCann for another year, dump Flowers and give a kid a chance or go for someone not named Flowers!
Which kid ? You have to have actual prospects in the upper minors at that particular position.
Alex Jackson is raking at AAA. Sure – same ole same ole – glove is a liability. I wonder how much longer Contreras lacks.
Keep the McCann/Flowers platoon through next year. Let’s hope Langoliers is ready to go in 2021. He was drafted as college player afterall. He was also a top 9 pick and one of the first 2 catchers taken. I read he would be the first catcher taken in most drafts but this draft had a catcher going number 1 overall so Langoliers fell to the 2nd catcher. He’s not a highschooler so he shouldn’t take long. In the mean time maybe the Braves can trade Contreras or Jackson in deal to make the team better since neither is the catcher of the future for the Braves. What you think, Run?
It will be longer than 2021 before he’s up. Big difference from college to pros catching. Bart is still in the minors and he was supposedly the best in a long time. He’s still in high A and he’s not jumping to the majors next year.
Keep Polanco out til September. Trade Dickerson, Cabrera, Lyles, and Kang if you can. Call up Jason Martin, Cole Tucker, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Mitch Keller and get ready for 2020.
Hayes won’t be up until mid-April because of service time, but agree with the rest.
Keller should make Lyles next start.
Keep Taillon out the rest of the year as well.
The baseball media in Pittsburgh is so awful, it’s almost comical.
If the Pirates can win the next 2 against StL, their slim hopes stay alive. If they lose, their season is all but surely over. But, these geniuses want to bench Marte for not running out a DP. On a day when your season is NOT on the line, sure, go ahead and send a message. But…when it is…
Also, the really really really really big fish in a very small pond who talks more than anyone else about how the Pirates don’t care about winning and just want to kick the can down the road wrote another article yesterday about how the Pirates don’t want to win and just want to kick the can down the road. And what is his super genius solution?
Trading Vazquez and Marte.
So, his advice is to do the EXACT thing he’s complaining about, so that he can complain about it some more because their only goal is rouse the rabble. In fact, most (all?) of the local voices pushing for the team to make such trades are the ones who say they never try to win. Intellectual consistency and/or honesty are not their strong suit.
Rather than understand and communicate the legitimate reasons why the Pirates made the Melancon, Cole and McCutchen trades, they painted them as salary dumps for nothing because they’d rather toss red meat to the Nutting’s Wallet crowd. But, they were wrong. Those were the right moves for the team at the time.
Trading Marte and Vazquez now WOULD be kicking the can down the road.
And it’s what they want most because it means not having to come up with a new schtick. I guess if you are happy doing afternoons (the AAA of radio) in a non-top 20 market, you know something about not really trying and being content with mediocrity. The Polanco of radio.
The Pirates need to trade the free agents (Dickerson, Kang, Cabrera if they can’t extend him) and bring Tucker and Keller back up, let Frazier play the OF until Polanco is back. The pieces are there to have a strong 2020 team, unless they are traded away for no particular reason.
These same guys want to trade away any piece that SF wants for Bumgarner who would be gone at the end of the season as a free agent or to NY Syndergaard who would is having a rough year and all would be screaming about who the Bucs gave up if Thor kept scuffling next season as well. Can’t listen to them drone on anymore .Like you said, the pieces are there for a strong 2020 if they do not screw up by trading it all away.
Bell, Newman, Tucker, Hayes, Diaz around the diamond with Frazier, Moran and Stallings on the bench. Reynolds, Marte, Polanco in the OF, Melky or someone else on the bench. That’s a good lineup with much better IF defense than what they run out now.
Vazquez is the one sure piece in bullpen with a lot of interesting maybes. Kuhl and Santana coming back, too.
Losing Taillon hurts. They will need to find a JA Happ or two. Or Keller could break out, that would make things easier.
Always forget about Kuhl. That’d be great if he bounced back strong. Brubaker too.
Maybe a Porcello, Pomeranz, Smyly, or Odorizzi as bounce-back guys?
Kela will be in the pen too. Hope he is healthy and should be a tough pen.,
The glasnow and meadows for archer trade was a head scratcher. Likely set the franchise back at least 5 years . Hard to find a solid number 2 or 3 starter and a center fielder. The pirates managed to lose both for a decent middle of the rotation arm who forgot how to pitch
Oh, thanks for reminding me…
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM pushed for the Archer deal before it happened, thinking that the Pirates would never get the consensus top available starter available (nor the top RP available, for that matter) and that they could say “I told you they wouldn’t do it because they don’t want to win” but then they did it.
Did any of them let the fact that they pushed for Archer, by name, and slagged the Pirates for years for “never making a big move” and “being too afraid to trade their top prospects” stop them from bashing the very deal they called for? Of course not.
Glasnow was considered by most a bust before the trade. Had great stuff but got hammered by big league hitters. He needed a change of scenery but he is having significant arm troubles now. Meadows never hit for any power at any level till the first 2 months this season. He hit for average as well through May. Not so much since and now it appears he is being sat against lefty starters Has an average of .224 and just hit his 1st HR since May. He and Reynolds looked very similar in the minors so having Reynolds made Meadows available. No one saw the power that he showed in April and May.every one of the talking heads applauded the deal fir Archer last year.
Glasgow plus Cole plus Morton being up and down now Archer seems like a Ray Seagate problem to me. Might be time him to move on and take Mr positive Clint with him!
If McCann puts together a few more league average seasons i wonder where that puts him hall of fame wise ? Considering the position he plays I’m sure he gets a decent amount of votes ..then again Posada with better numbers was knocked off the ballot in year 1
Personally I’ve always been a fan of his. Too bad he didnt play longer with the yanks.
Thoughts?
If Murph can’t get in, I don’t see how McCann stands a chance at a valuable position. And that’s with seeing him through my rose-colored glasses.
Pretty much agree with this assessment. Even McGriff didn’t make it in.
If Posada can’t get in, I don’t see how anyone beyond the vaunted Mr. Sticky Chest gets in, since Posey is going the Mauer way as we speak.
I hope the Sox get rid of Castillo soon. That guy is a waste. About the only option is to DFA him. I can’t see any team desperate enough to take on any of his contract. Though, I would keep Castillo long enough for Collins to get everyday playing time in AAA and get back on track. Yes, Collins fared horribly in his almost 4-week stay, but it’s kind of hard to break out of the nasty slump he was in if he’s only playing twice a week.
In the end, I guess it doesn’t really matter since this 4-game losing streak pretty much killed any WC hopes for the Sox. All either the A’s, Texas, Angels, or Boston has to do is get hot and there’s zero chance the Sox catch that team. Actually, I’m surprised Boston hasn’t already run away with the 2nd WC seed.
In other words, as long as Castillo doesn’t eat too much of McCann’s starts, it doesn’t really matter if he’s the backup, or it’s Collins or Zavala. Basically 1 or 2 starts a week for Castillo. Any more than 2 starts a week is too many.
This team definitely has its moments this year. The Sox can be a fun team to watch, depending on the game. But this team is really going to be fun to watch starting next year when Kopech comes back and they add Robert and Madrigal to the lineup.
Agreed
The Yankees can use a Chad Green-Severino tandem as an opener.