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Brian McCann

Astros Decline Option On Brian McCann, Outright Jandel Gustave

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The Astros announced that they’ve declined their $15MM option on catcher Brian McCann and sent right-hander Jandel Gustave outright to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. Both players will become free agents. Their 40-man roster currently has seven open spots.

McCann, 34, gave the Astros a much-needed quality option behind the plate in 2017 following an offseason trade from the Yankees. But after hitting .241/.323/.436 with 18 home runs in his first season with Houston, his production fell off in 2018. This past season saw the seven-time All-Star and 14-year veteran bat just .212/.301/.339 with seven homers in 216 trips to the dish. McCann spent significant time on the disabled list in ’18 as well, logging more than two months on the shelf due to knee issues that required surgical repair.

Gustave, 26, missed the 2018 season recovering from Tommy John surgery performed back in late June of 2017. Certainly, the Astros were hoping that he’d be able to return to the club late in the 2018 campaign — hence rostering him all last offseason — but he’ll now hit free agency and have the ability to sign with any team of his choosing. Of course, he could very well opt to re-sign a minor league deal in Houston, which is the only organization he’s known outside of brief spells with the Royals and Padres following his selection in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft.

The hard-throwing Gustave has a 3.98 ERA in 20 1/3 big league innings and worked to a 3.79 ERA with a 55-to-23 K/BB ratio as a 23-year-old in his lone Triple-A campaign (2016).

2019 Vesting Options Update

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Near the end of May, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk provided readers with an update on all the known 2019 vesting options. As he mentioned at that time, some options of this kind go unreported, so we’ll examine the list below with the caveat that it could potentially be incomplete.

A vesting option is a clause in a player’s contract that can change the structure of the deal by guaranteeing him an additional year under contract; these are usually triggered when a player meets certain plate appearance thresholds and/or is healthy at season’s end.

Here’s where those six players stand…

Will Vest

Seunghwan Oh: The South Korea native is just one relief appearance away from triggering the clause in his contract that’ll turn his $2.5MM club option (with a $250K buyout) into a guarantee. Oh, 36, originally signed his contract with the Blue Jays, where he began the season strong and was ultimately flipped to the Rockies prior to July’s non-waiver trade deadline. On the whole, he’s whiffed 10.19 batters per nine while walking just 2.34 per nine en route to a tidy 2.76 ERA. With the Rockies in the midst of a pennant chase, Oh is sure to get his 70th appearance on the season at some point in the coming days.

Will Not Vest

Hanley Ramirez: HanRam started the season hot, but after posting a .874 OPS in April, he mustered just a .500 OPS the month following en route to being designated for assignment on May 24th (just four days after out last vesting options update). What was once an intriguing situation to watch had the mystery taken out of it abruptly, and Ramirez hasn’t played in the bigs since.

Cole Hamels: The resurgent lefty has been a welcome sight for a Cubs rotation that didn’t get any semblance of what they hoped for from Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood. Since being acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline, he’s tossed 63 1/3 innings of 2.42 ERA ball. That brings him to just 177 2/3 IP on the season, however, which will fall well short of the towering 252 figure he needs for his vesting option to trigger. Per the terms of a deal he originally signed with the Phillies, Hamels’ $20MM club option ($6MM buyout) would have morphed into a one-year, $24MM pact if he managed to throw 200 innings this season and 400 total from 2017-2018, all while ending the season without any shoulder or elbow injuries requiring a DL placement. Hamels took the mound for just 148 innings last season, so while he’s been pretty good in Chicago, hopes of achieving his vesting option threshold were little more than a pipe dream to begin with.

Brian McCann: McCann was already fighting an uphill battle in his attempts to reach his 1,000th plate appearance across the 2017-2018 season (a threshold which would have triggered his vesting option). At the outset of 2018, he needed a career-high 601 PA, and after undergoing knee surgery that knocked him out of the lineup for all of July and August, his chances of achieving that lofty goal were squelched entirely.

Ervin Santana: We had already written off any chance of Santana’s option vesting all the way back in May, when he hadn’t yet taken the field due to finger injury issues. While he did manage to get back to the mound for five starts, he’d have needed 200 innings in order to qualify for a $14MM guarantee in 2019. That was never going to happen for a pitcher who made his season debut on July 25th.

Logan Morrison: After a promising 2017 season that saw Morrison launch a career-high 38 bombs, the lefty-hitting first baseman was unable to find a team willing to buy into his newfound success. The Twins, however, gave him a one-year pact with a $8MM club option for 2019 ($1MM buyout) that would vest if he took 600 trips to the plate. Unfortunately, Morrison’s performance has taken a considerable downturn this season; that dive can largely be attributed to nagging hip issues that ultimately necessitated season-ending surgery. During that procedure, he had a torn labrum repaired and a bone spur removed. That, of course, took the possibility of triggering his vesting option off the table, as his plate appearance total sits at just 359 on the year.

Astros Activate Brian McCann, Select Josh James

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The Astros have activated catcher Brian McCann and outfielder Jake Marisnick from the 10-day disabled list, selected the contract of right-hander Josh James from Triple-A Fresno, and recalled lefty Cionel Perez from Fresno, Ben DuBose of MLB.com was among those to report.

The most notable news here is the return of McCann, who went on the DL on July 3 with a right knee injury and then underwent surgery to repair the issue. McCann will start Saturday for the Astros, who mostly turned to Max Stassi and Martin Maldonado behind the plate in his stead.

Houston acquired Maldonado from the Angels a few weeks after losing McCann, and the defensive-minded backstop has since offered above-average offensive production in 64 plate appearances (.237/.270/.492 with three home runs). The 32-year-old Maldonado has never been much of a hitter, though, and an unsustainable power surge (.254 ISO) has been the reason for his respectable output as an Astro, helping to overshadow subpar strikeout and walk rates (23.4 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively).

Stassi, meanwhile, has come back to earth to a significant extent since a hot offensive start to 2018, but overall, he has batted a solid .234/.322/.407 with eight homers in 242 PAs. Notably, the 27-year-old has been a major asset behind the plate, as Baseball Prospectus has ranked him as the game’s best pitch framer this season.

McCann, 34, has garnered plenty of praise for his defense throughout his career, and has typically been among the majors’ premier offensive backstops. However, he struggled to a .206/.283/.323 line with five HRs and a career-worst .116 ISO in 173 PAs before undergoing surgery. As a left-handed hitter, he may well finish the season in a platoon with the righty-swinging Maldonado or Stassi. After that, it’s unclear what McCann’s future will hold, as he’s likely to hit free agency over the winter. McCann is controllable next year by way of a $15MM club option, but he won’t amass the necessary 1,000 PAs from 2017-18 for it to vest, and the Astros won’t exercise it.

While the McCann era may be winding down in Houston, James’ career with the team is just beginning. The Astros, clinging to a 1 1/2-game lead over the A’s for the AL West lead, will start the 25-year-old James against the Angels on Saturday. Houston’s turning to James, a 34th-round pick in 2014, because it’s without starters Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. – both of whom are on the DL.

MLB.com’s sixth-ranked Astros prospect, James earned his way the majors this year by posting a 3.40 ERA/3.39 FIP with a sky-high 12.92 K/9 (against 3.79 BB/9) across 17 starts and 92 2/3 Triple-A innings. James offers serious heat, per MLB.com, as his fastball sits between 95 mph to 97 mph and is capable of reaching triple digits. His repertoire also includes a promising slider and “an improving changeup,” according to MLB.com, though the outlet suggests he’s likely to be a reliever in the majors.

West Links: Maeda, Stripling, Padres, Skaggs, Astros, Rangers

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Some items from both the NL and AL West divisions…

  • The Dodgers are moving Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling to the bullpen, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Pedro Moura and the Los Angeles Times’ Andy McCullough).  The club was facing a rotation overload with Alex Wood and Hyun-Jin Ryu both coming off the DL this week, though Stripling’s role change is a bit of a surprise given how well he has pitched.  Roberts said he hopes to let Stripling start again at some point this season, though the Dodgers have a greater need in the bullpen with Kenley Jansen on the DL for the near future.  Maeda has also pitched well this year, though he “appears there [the bullpen] to stay,” McCullough said.  It’s probably safe to assume that the team’s pitching plans will continue to remain somewhat fluid, given how Dodgers seem to be constantly dealing with injuries, yet they also get consistently good results from just about everyone they slot into the rotation.
  • Baseball America recently released its updated organizational talent rankings, rating all 30 teams on the quality and depth of prospects in their minor league pipelines.  The Padres took the #1 spot, rising from third place in BA’s previous ranking from earlier in the season.  San Diego is deep enough is both pitching and position player prospects that “general manager A.J. Preller’s biggest task is sorting out which prospects are keepers and which ones should be traded to speed the big league club’s rebuild.”  The full 30-team ranking is available to Baseball America subscribers.
  • The Angels announced that left-hander Tyler Skaggs has been placed on the 10-day DL due to a left adductor strain, with righty Eduardo Paredes called up from Triple-A in a corresponding move.  Skaggs was only just activated yesterday from a DL stint with the same injury, and he also missed time in July due to a problem with his right adductor.  No stranger to injuries throughout his career, Skaggs has already tossed a career-high 116 2/3 innings this season, posting a 3.78 ERA, 3.51 K/BB rate, and 9.5 K/9.
  • Astros manager A.J. Hinch provided some updates on injured players to reporters today, including MLB.com’s Christian Boutwell (Twitter links).  Chris Devenski and Brian McCann are on pace to begin rehab assignments soon, while outfielder Jake Marisnick is facing a lengthy absence after being placed on the DL yesterday with a groin injury.  Marisnick will be out of action for “at least for the next few weeks,” Hinch said, possibly not returning until the September roster expansion.
  • The Rangers’ “de-load” program for pitching prospects focuses on “acclimation, education and, they hope, injury prevention,” for these prized young arms, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes.  The idea behind the program is to help better prepare these minor leaguers, some of whom are just out of high school, as they begin their careers in professional baseball.  This includes sessions on everything from physical fitness to charting pitches to even just how to conduct oneself in a clubhouse.  Interestingly, there isn’t much actual pitching (whether in practice or games) involved in this program.  “Let’s get their bodies and minds right on a daily basis so that when they are ready to pitch, they’ve got building blocks,” said Paul Kruger, Rangers assistant director of player development.  “We wanted something that could be used to build a better routine from Day One.”

Brian McCann To Undergo Knee Surgery

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2:00pm: McCann will require surgery on his knee that will sideline him for the next four to six weeks, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).

It seems doubtful that’ll change the team’s immediate approach all that much, though if Stassi is struggling in a regular role three weeks from now, perhaps the organization would consider some type of addition behind the plate.

10:39am: The Astros will place Brian McCann back on the 10-day disabled list due to a right knee injury and will select the contract of Tim Federowicz from Triple-A Fresno in his place, as Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets. The Astros will also activate Joe Smith from the 10-day DL. Houston’s 40-man roster is currently at 38 players, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move for Federowicz’s addition, though they’ll need to open a 25-man spot for Smith.

McCann has now been on the DL three times with right knee soreness dating back to August 2017. For a 34-year-old who was long one of the league’s most durable backstops, perhaps that’s not exactly surprising. Still, whether it’s due to his apparently ongoing knee discomfort or simply due to a decline in skills, McCann is currently enduring the worst season of his Major League career. Through 173 plate appearances, he’s batting just .206/.283/.323 with five homers and three doubles. He’s the league’s second-slowest runner as well, per Statcast, topping only Albert Pujols in terms of sprint speed (22.6 feet per second).

Max Stassi will serve as the primary catcher in place of McCann — and it’s very arguable that despite McCann’s contract, that should be the arrangement through season’s end. The 27-year-old Stassi is hitting .255/.335/.482 with seven homers and 11 doubles through 158 plate appearances so far in 2018, and while he’s been below average in terms of throwing out would-be base thieves (22 percent to McCann’s 33 percent), Stassi rates as the top framing catcher in the league, per Baseball Prospectus. In fact, Stassi leads all big league catchers in BP’s Fielding Runs Above Average metric.

As for Federowicz, the 30-year-old journeyman will return to the ’Stros for a second time in 2018. He came up earlier this season and went 1-for-7 in a tiny sample of work. Federowicz has turned in a brilliant season in Triple-A so far, hitting .328/.404/.560 through 151 PAs. That’s largely how Federowicz’s career has gone to this point. In parts of eight Triple-A campaigns, he’s mashed at a .306/.376/.508 clip, but he’s managed just a .195/.243/.312 batting line through 325 PAs in the Majors.

Astros Designate Tim Federowicz

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The Astros have designated backstop Tim Federowicz for assignment, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets. That move will allow the team to activate fellow receiver Brian McCann from the DL.

Federowicz did not see much game action during his brief stint in the majors, striding to bat only seven teams. He has seen time in seven MLB seasons, but only once has taken more than 78 plate appearances. Federowicz had been hitting quite well at Triple-A, though, with a .337/.407/.584 slash in his 113 plate appearances.

Astros To Place Brian McCann On DL, Select Tim Federowicz

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The Astros will place catcher Brian McCann on the 10-day DL with knee soreness, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow backstop Tim Federowicz, whose contract will be selected.

McCann has dealt with knee issues in the past, which perhaps is not terribly surprising for a 34-year-old who has logged over 1,500 games behind the dish in his MLB career. By the description, it seems this placement is more about dealing with the long-term wear and tear than addressing any particular recent, acute injury.

Certainly, the numbers suggest it’s time for a respite. While the ’Stros have surged, McCann has fallen off with the bat. He posted a .271/.397/.407 slash in his first 73 plate appearances but is hitting just .164/.207/.291 in his most recent 58 trips to the dish.

As for Federowicz, he’ll be appearing in his seventh MLB season, though he has only 318 total plate appearances to date at the game’s highest level. He has been doing damage at Triple-A, as is his wont, with a .337/.407/.584 slash in 113 plate appearances this year — boosting his lifetime OPS at the highest level of the minors to a healthy .884 mark.

Generally, this move helps explain why many see the ’Stros as a plausible suitor for catching help at the trade deadline. McCann, who’s controlled by a club option for 2019, has generally been a solid asset for Houston but likely isn’t suited to heavy usage behind the dish at this stage of his career. Current reserve Max Stassi has impressed to date with a .300/.371/.525 slash on the year, though that has come with 29 strikeouts in 89 plate appearances.

AL West Notes: Hamels, Wood, Ohtani, McCann, Chapman

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Cole Hamels has a 20-team no-trade clause in his contract, though the veteran southpaw described his no-trade protection as “just kind of a formality” during a wide-ranging chat with NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller.  Hamels can block deals to every team except the Braves, Mariners, Phillies, Nationals, Rays, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, and Astros, though it doesn’t sound like he would have any specific objection to being dealt to a contender.  “Really, it’s just kind of like heads up….It just kind of provides a little bit more information, a little bit more bargaining power,” Hamels said.  “That’s kind of really what that entails.  But at the end of the day, situations kind of come up and I think everybody understands what can transpire.”

With the Rangers struggling and Hamels in his final year under contract, the former World Series MVP has often been cited as a potential deadline trade chip.  Some players in Hamels’ position have used their no-trade clause to garner some extra money and/or future security, though it doesn’t seem like Hamels would be particularly inclined to insist that a new team (for example) automatically pick up the $20MM club option on his services for 2019.  It’s worth noting that several of Hamels’ nine non-protected teams are contenders, so Texas might not necessarily have to worry about the no-trade clause at all to potentially deal the left-hander.  Miller’s full piece is well worth a read, as Hamels discusses several topics about his past and future in baseball.

Some more from the AL West…

  • An MRI revealed some damage to Blake Wood’s ulnar collateral ligament, the Angels told MLB.com’s Maria Guardado and other reporters today.  Wood will receive a second opinion before deciding on his next course of action.  The extent of the damage isn’t known, though the worst-case scenario would be that Wood undergoes Tommy John surgery and is thus sidelined through at least half of the 2019 season.  Wood has been on the DL for the last month due to an elbow impingement, and had posted a 2.31 ERA, 7.7 K/9, and 1.43 K/BB rate over 11 2/3 IP out of the Los Angeles bullpen this season.  Wood is a free agent this winter, and would be facing some type of incentive-heavy, minor league deal at best if he does face a Tommy John absence.
  • The Angels’ balancing act of using Shohei Ohtani as a two-way player has been “perfect” based on Ohtani’s projected and assumed values as a pitcher and as a hitter, according to ESPN.com’s Sam Miller.  “The miracle isn’t just that we get to see a player who is as good at hitting and as good at pitching as Ohtani is.  It’s that we get to see one who is precisely this good at each so that this usage makes sense,” Miller writes.
  • As part of a reader mailbag piece, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes that he would “be surprised” if Brian McCann is with the Astros in 2019.  McCann is in the final guarantee year of his contract and the Astros hold a $15MM club option on him for next season.  This option vests into a player option should McCann has 601 PA and at least 90 starts at catcher this season, and doesn’t end the year on the disabled list, though obviously Houston could manage McCann’s workload to ensure he doesn’t hit the vesting threshold.  The hot-hitting Max Stassi has already cut into McCann’s playing time, though McTaggart isn’t sure that Stassi (a longtime prospect) would necessarily be the starting catcher going forward if the Astros parted ways with McCann.  It’s worth noting that the Astros were linked to J.T. Realmuto in trade rumors last winter, and the team has the minor league trade chips to manage such a big acquisition.  McCann, 34, has above-average run creation numbers (111 wRC+) via his .248/.347/.396 slash line in 118 PA this season, though his production over the last five years has generally been closer to league-average.
  • The Athletics’ pick of Matt Chapman with the 25th overall selection of the 2014 draft came about due to something of a “reverse Moneyball” situation, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required).  Chapman had only modest hitting numbers in college ball but his skillset was heavily praised by A’s scouts; unlike the events of the film and Michael Lewis’ book, Billy Beane and company decided to go against the statistics to choose Chapman, as a private workout for the team prior to the draft helped answer the front office’s concerns.  The pick looks like a great one for the A’s, as Chapman has broken out into one of the game’s most promising young stars.

Free Agent Rumblings: Walker, Cobb, Chatwood, Minor, Lucroy, Bautista

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As major league organizations compete to bring home the shiniest new cars in Playoffville (Copyright Scott Boras), let’s check in on the latest rumored connections:

  • The Pirates have at least “some interest” in old friend Neil Walker, Jon Morosi of MLB Network tweets. Morosi cites uncertainty surrounding Jung Ho Kang as driving the possibility of a reunion, though as MLB.com’s Adam Berry writes, there’s another perspective on that subject, too. GM Neal Huntington says there’s still some hope that Kang will be able to return and finish his contract. If not, though, he feels the team is in good shape in the infield without him, due in part to the acquisition of Sean Rodriguez over the summer.
  • It seems there’s some mutual interest between the Cubs and righty Alex Cobb, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. That’s not a surprising connection, given the common roots with the Rays of Cobb and several key Cubs figures. The sides have engaged in preliminary discussions, though Wittenmyer’s sources tell him that contract particulars haven’t yet been broached.
  • Another starter getting a bite is Tyler Chatwood, in whom the Orioles have shown interest, per Morosi (via Twitter). That’s a connection that comes as little surprise. Baltimore is going to have to take some chances to fill out its staff, and Chatwood looks to be one of the market’s more interesting possibilities to provide value. He won’t turn 28 until December and has posted solid results outside of Coors Field, prompting MLBTR to predict a three-year deal (albeit at a relatively modest annual value). While Camden Yards and the AL East are an intimidating prospect for many pitchers, Chatwood at least has plenty of experience dealing with similar challenges.
  • The Mets are among the teams with interest in free agent southpaw Mike Minor, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. We’ve heard recently about New York’s desire to pursue impact relief pitching, and Minor certainly fits that mold. Given his past history as a starter and dominance against southpaws last year, the 29-year-old would provide quite a bit of functionality.
  • The Astros are showing some interest in free agent catcher Jonathan Lucroy, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). Lucroy could make for an interesting fit in Houston, though adding a backstop of that quality no doubt would represent a luxury for the team that already has most everything. Presumably, the ’Stros could plan to split time between Lucroy and fellow veteran Brian McCann, with the other spending quite a lot of time at DH (if not also some first base). Signing Lucroy could mean non-tendering Evan Gattis, though he might also be retained and also utilized in the same rotation. There are certainly some intriguing possibilities here, though Lucroy should also be pursued by others that might offer him significant time as a primary catcher.
  • It seems the Rays could again be a suitor for veteran slugger Jose Bautista, per Morosi (Twitter links). Talks haven’t really progressed to this point, but that’s hardly surprising — particularly since Tampa Bay’s entire offseason approach remains largely unclear. For his part, Bautista is said to be willing to spend time at DH or the corner infield, per agent Jay Alou.

Quick Hits: Ohtani, McCann, Braves, Phillies

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A few notes from around the game:

  • Soon-to-be free agent ace/outfielder Shohei Ohtani spoke with the Associated Press and other media on Saturday about his desire to leave Japan for the major leagues this winter. “The other day I met with team officials and stated my intentions,” Ohtani said, referring to the Nippon Ham Fighters. “My request was met with warm words of support, so I hope to do my best in America from next year on.” The 23-year-old is renowned for both his pitching and hitting skills, but he noted that he’s “not a complete player yet,” which is his “strongest reason for wanting to go now.” While Ohtani does have “a strong desire” to continue as a two-way player in the majors, he admitted that he’s unsure if it’ll be possible.
  • Astros catcher Brian McCann told Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that he’d like to end his career as a member of the Braves, with whom he thrived from 2005-13. “One hundred percent,” said the 33-year-old McCann. “One hundred percent. This is my home. I played close to 10 years here. This organization is really, really, really close to my heart. I love this organization.” McCann, a Georgia native who still lives there, will be a free agent next offseason if the Astros decline his $15MM option. Braves backstops Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki are also slated to hit the open market, which could pave the way for a McCann-Atlanta reunion in 2019 if the club’s interested in making it happen.
  • The team that makes a surprise splash in free agency is most likely to be the Phillies, according to a group of executives and agents who spoke with Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. “They say they aren’t doing anything, but I have a feeling they will go after someone big,” an exec told Feinsand, who points to right-handers Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb as potential targets for the team. On paper, either would improve a Phillies rotation that ranked 19th in fWAR and 21st in ERA in 2017, when Aaron Nola was their only starter who turned in a particularly strong performance.
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