The latest from ESPN.com’s Buster Olney…
- Brian McCann’s $12MM option for 2013 no longer seems as appealing as it once did, Olney writes. The Braves are working to address many offseason needs with a modest payroll and McCann's recent shoulder surgery was more extensive than expected. Olney points out that the Braves could attempt to negotiate a deal at a lower salary or exercise the option and trade McCann to a team such as the Rangers or Yankees. Of course the Braves could simply bring the catcher back for another season in the hopes that his shoulder recovers.
- Next year’s free agent class might be light on impact talent other than Robinson Cano, Olney writes. In general it probably doesn’t make sense to expect stacked free agent classes at a time that teams are locking up players to extensions that cover their prime years.
- Japanese pitching prospect Shohei Otani intends to pursue a career in MLB, and a number of teams are interested in the hard-throwing right-hander. The Red Sox and Rangers “have done the most work in this arena,” according to Olney.
Oh for the love of all that is holy the Braves aren’t getting rid of him!!! Let his shoulder heal and give him another shot to reprove himself in 2013. If he goes back to how he was, sign him to an extension and trade Bethancourt.
He will be fine if he takes his time to heal. If he tries or is rushed into coming back to early, he may not be the same player he was.
Why get rid of him when there’s not a better option available. TEX is looking for catching help and they have more money. Sure, they could go with Napoli, but he has his questions and looks to cash in. I hope McCann has a rebound year, but I don’t want ATL to extend him past 3 years. He’s not the future. ATL has NOT done their due diligence to have Chipper’s or McCann’s replacements ready and we might have to pick up his option, regardless.
Always a great idea to trade away perenial all-stars in their worst season while they’re injured. I’m sure the Braves would get a HAUL. What is Onley even talking about?
That’s what good teams do, right? Shovel out good players after a bad stretch, and justifying it by saying they are “done”. That worked so well for the Red Sox when we shipped Youkilis.
Youkilis is on the wrong side of 30 and has been injured repeatedly in recent years. Middlebrooks is a better player at this point.
Still they traded Youk when his value was down, and they got nothing back for him except salary relief. That’s not much for a fan favorite and a big part of their team.
Apparently had column space to fill. Not like there’s a World Series about to start or anything.
when it comes to the braves olney knows less than i do about the braves intentions regarding mccann and I know more than most having followed them for 30 plus years..buster olney may know a lot about baseball in general and i give him credit for it but he doesnt know squat about whats going on in frank wren or bobby cox’s head
So instead of running down Olney’s knowledge of the Braves why don’t you enlighten us about what is going on in Wren or Cox’s head!!! You have followed them for 30 plus years but didn’t give us any information!!!
Yeah, I am sure the Braves would like to help the Yankees or Rangers. I am sure that’s tops on their to do list.
Speaking of Top, I am sure the Orioles have sent out their “Top Men” out to check out Otani. Who you ask are their “Top Men”, the Stockstill Boys of course!
It’s all lies I say. McCann is not going anywhere. Writer’s need to stop trying to create storylines that aren’t even feasible.
McCann for Granderson? Granderson and McCann’s contracts balance and Granderson would be a nice replacement for Bourne when he leaves…
I like it from the Braves side, but it’s just not that simple, McCann is the leader of the Braves clubhouse, they simply can not trade him when Chipper just retired.
If he leaves, who plays catcher? Ross full time? I would keep both let McCann heal properly and play Ross in the meantime, then have the old healthy McCann back for at least half the season. 12 million is a lot, but it’s a must sorry
Braves are not going to just dump McCan….
amen brother
good GM’s don’t make moves like this. Especially when there are no decent options available. You don’t create need, and you don’t sell low on star players.
I’m a HUGE Brave fan and I love McCann, but it is realistic to at least explore the option….I’m not saying trade him but if teams ask you might as well entertain the notion! Bethancourt i just about ready anyway…What would the Yankees or Rangers be willing to give up? Would the Yankees part with Hughes or Nova and Manny Banuelos? If so you consider it so you can trade Hughes/Nova for something….Do the Rangers give us Andrus back? If so can he then be dealt for someone like James Shields or David Price…or packaged to get Justin Upton?? They def have to listen to the possibilities though….Especially if they feel Bethancourt is ready to take over(I think he is still a year away) I don’t see Atlanta resigning him after next season anyway.
Of course if teams aren’t willing to offer the Braves anything then stand firm and keep him..DO NOT just give him away to free up $13 mil.
Bethancourt is ready defensively, but not offensively.
Think of it like this…McCann hit .230 obp .300 and slug of .399 with 20 hr and 67 rbi and the Braves still made the playoffs..Surely Bethancourt can hit .230 and hit 12-15 hrs and drive in 60+ runs and improve the defense…They say his arm strength is comparable to Yadi’s (which is amazing) so this may be the time to make a change…Get the same offensive production and improve the defense.
McCann is a great hitter and if he returns to form in 2013 Atl wont be able to resign him…Not with big contracts coming to Heyward, Prado, and Freeman in the near future…So they might as well see what they can get.
Interesting perspective. Haven’t really thought of it that way. I’m all for giving Bethancourt MLB experience. If we could re-sign Ross and have an excellent backup alleviate the pressure of Bethancourt to become our catcher, we should give it a thought.
I’m not saying the Braves have to or should trade McCann…but if a team offers the right player or players then pull the trigger..
If Bethancourt look at it like replacing the 2012 version of McCann it puts a lot less pressure on Bethancourt…He will never replace the offensive fire power of McCann from 2005-2011 but the production of McCann in 2012 is more realistic to replace!
Plus there is going to come a point when McCann needs to move to 1st or DH and neither of those are real options for Atl…Freeman blocks the idea of using him like the Giants use Posey and not having a consistent DH they can’t use him like Texas did Napoli or the Yankees did Posada a few years ago..
Agreed. Even with him making a come back, I highly doubt he’ll be as productive to the team over the years of an extension to justify a deal, based on the same reasons you noted, regardless of his clubhouse role. Fact is, leaders step up. Jones wasn’t a leader until there was no Smoltz, Maddux, Glavine, Pendleton, etc.
No way any of those deals are ever done. The best the Braves could hope for out of McCann would be mid-level prospects or role players for a guy who is coming off of shoulder surgery and is going to cost $12 million.
This isn’t the popular opinion, but I think that this was the offseason to trade McCann. I don’t see that happening now with this surgery. He doesn’t have a future in the NL. He needs to go to an AL team where he can DH and catch 3-4 days of the week. Had he been healthy, then I ask the Rangers for Mike Olt or see what it would take to get Nova from the Yankees. That’s gone now. I only see us losing a trade or losing McCann next year after his contract is up. I don’t think the Braves should resign him since he is aging and since he has already had multiple health issues.
you are probably right about them not getting a deal like those, but if they do they have to make the trade..especially with Texas to get a player like Olt.. Like you said McCann is likely to play himself out of Atlanta anyway so they need to try and do it, but don’t settle for mid-level prospects…I agree they could have gotten a haul for him if he was healthy this year, but if he was healthy and had his average offensive season we wouldn’t be talking about trading him LOL…
You also said he needs to be on an AL team and the Rangers and Yankees are both in the AL..Without a lot of good offensive catchers out there McCann might still bring more value then any of us expect…..Not likely but anything is possible.
Mr. Olney, I find your opinion of the McCann situation to be shallow and pedantic. That is all.
I don’t know what the Yankees are waiting for in re-upping Cano. They don’t have another star that produces at his level at a premium position and frankly they’d be dumb to let him get away. Boston has a ton of money and aren’t likely to spend much of it this offseason with who is out there, any chance they go big for Cano and shift Pedroia to SS? Iglesias, Ciriaco and Bogaerts are far from sure things at the position and there’s just not a lot of great SS out on the market.
They haven’t resigned him because he wants 10 years and something like 230-240. They dont want to jump right into another ARod contract
Dustin cannot play SS every day. As far as not signing him, its 2 fold. One, he wants crazy money and they know his price will not go up much between now and end of next year. If he gets hurts or struggles, it saves them money or from being in that contract at all. Also, they have a policy of not talking extensions with anyone under contract.
If mccann recovers fully then it will be the first time he has been healthy in two years even longer if you count his vision problems. I think he will be out to prove his worth. Pick up his option and let him build up his value and go from there
The problem is will he be fully healthy?? Like you said its been at least 2 years since he has been healthy…I hope he is healthy and has a GREAT year in Atl…but someone might offer a deal Atl can’t refuse.
I think either way they need to get ross signed back up that way if a deal comes along they can atleast tread water behind the plate for a while. If they could get olt for mac then you have to pull the trigger. If he returns to form he will price his self out of atlanta so might as well get something back
I love Brian McCann but if the Rangers were to offer Mike Olt, Cody Buckel and Tanner Scheppers the Braves would be foolish not to listen.
Why would TEX offer a package like that for a guy coming off surgery and has a significant option at $12M who was traded by the team that has no MLB starting replacement option which he has produced for over the last half-decade? I would love Mike Olt as a 3B of the future, but I can’t see TEX giving up a package to get McCann without a deal to secure him for more than 1 season before he hits the open market.
If TEX did offer a package, they’d be silly not to do it.
Maybe because they have no option at C. But in my original post I said IF, McCann won’t be traded we know that.
I like the idea of Olt and Buckel…..but Scheppers wouldn’t really have a place..He will turn 26 in Jan and I don’t seem him improving the Braves bullpen
Yankees will keep their team in tack, and only a tweek hear or their, this team still scores alot of runs, and their pitching was good enough to win 95 games.
Based on the way they keep holding on to Jurjjens and Hanson, I don’t think they’ll trade anyone away based on production.