The New York Yankees have much to do this offseason to correct areas they believe may have cost them another early exit from the postseason. Among them is re-signing DJ LeMahieu and rebuilding a pitching rotation that can bring them a division win and lead them to their first trip to the World Series in 12 years. Among other items, the Yankees have to decide what to do with their backstop, Gary Sanchez.
Gary Sanchez burst onto the Yankee scene in 2016, hitting more than a hit per game and hitting his career-high .299 batting average. In 2017 he had the most home runs of any catcher in baseball. Things were looking good for the young catcher as the Yankees declared him the New York Yankee catcher of the future, even though poor defense dogged him. Since his first two years as a Yankees, it’s been pretty much downhill for him. He hit a lot of home runs in 2019, but his batting average has averaged under .200 for the last three years. This year his defense has not improved, and he hit a career-low .147 batting average.
The Yankee have mostly lost faith in Sanchez after sitting him late in the season and the postseason. A team can’t have a guy in the lineup that can’t hit and is a liability. The New York Yankees must now decide if they keep Sanchez, promote Kyle Higashioka to starting catcher, or acquire a new catcher for the team through the free-agent market. There are three outstanding catchers out there that would be a significant upgrade from Sanchez. The most prized and most expensive is J.T. Realmuto. Another is Yadier Molina, a future Hall of Famer, and James McCann, a free agent from the Chicago White Sox.
Today we look to see if James McCann is a good fit for the Yankees. McCann is a solid defender, and the 30-year-old batted .289 to Sanchez’s .147 this past season. He has a good injury history, and Sanchez does not. He doesn’t hit as many home runs as Sanchez, he had only 7 compared to Gary’s 10, but McCann hits for contact. He has a .360 OBP and .896 OPS compared to Sanchez’s line of .253/.618. However, not a perfect defender had 4 errors to Sanchez’s 6.
McCann is coming off two solid seasons with the White Sox; he was an All-Star in 2019 when he hit 18 home runs and drove in 60 runners. Being a hot commodity on the free-agent market, if the Yankees decide McCann is for them, they will have plenty of competition for his services as according to John Heyman of the MLB Network, besides the New York Yankees, the crosstown Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels all reportedly interested. Of course, the White Sox would like to keep him too, but not enough to give him a qualifying offer. The only reason the Cards are interested is that they might lose Yadier Molina.