Astros Acquire Brian McCann From Yankees

The Houston Astros have acquired veteran catcher Brian McCann from the New York Yankees, they announced Thursday. 

The Yankees received two minor league right-handed pitchers in exchange--Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman--per the announcement. 

For Houston, the acquisition of McCann provides a left-handed bat in a lineup that was relatively right-handed heavy in 2016. The Astros will not have to play McCann every day at catcher, either, with Evan Gattis in the fold.

The Astros essentially came down to two options: keep Jason Castro, an impending free agent, or try and trade for a left-handed hitting catcher like McCann. They ultimately chose the latter. 

For New York, the trade is a continuation of what the team has decided to do recently: rebuild for the future.

McCann is yet another veteran player who has left the Big Apple during 2016, along with Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. A youth movement is happening in New York, and with the mid-season emergence of Gary Sanchez behind the plate, Brian McCann became an odd man out going forward. 

McCann hit .242/.335/.413 with 20 home runs and 56 RBI in 492 plate appearances this season. According to FanGraphs, he was worth 1.3 Wins Above Replacement.

Signed through 2018, the Yankees will pay $5.5 million of his $17 million salary for each of the next two seasons, according to Buster Olney of ESPN. 

As for the Yankees' portion of the deal, the 21-year-old Abreu was the Astros 7th-best prospect, per MLB.com. He pitched in High Single-A this year. As for Guzman, he was unranked on the Astros' list, and the 20-year-old pitched in Rookie ball this year. 

--Devan Fink

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