Angels Could be Players for Brian McCann?

You know those days where you are just sitting there, minding your own business, and then, WHAMMO, you get smacked upside the head by a kitchen sink that has been hurtled at you by a teenager with no respect for authority? That is kind of how I felt when I read this bit of dribble from CBS Sports’, Jon Heyman. I’m still not convinced that, as a National writer, Heyman has any idea about who is actually on the Angels roster besides Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton.

If you did not click the link, congratulations, all of your brain cells remain intact. I did read the article, and before I lose all control of my motor skills and begin drooling on my keyboard, here’s an excerpt from Heyman’s article:

"Early predictions that he could reach $100 million may be a bit ambitious, but it has to help that the Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers, Cubs and Angels all are candidates to sign a catcher and could be major Brian McCann players."

He did say some other stuff (He even used OPS), but the quote above is really all you need to read. This is where the Angels are now, people. They are one of those teams that, if there is someone that will be available via free agency, the Angels will be considered players. Even if that player is notorious fun-hater, Brian McCann. Which is a stark contrast to one of the Angels catching options, Hank Conger.

The Angels did have quite a few holes this season, and one could make the argument that one of their more sizable offensive holes came from behind the plate, but that would be short-sighted. McCann did hit better than both Conger and Chris Iannetta if you use wRC+ as your barometer. But neither Conger or Iannetta were slouches with the bat. Conger was almost exactly league average in 255 plate appearances with a wRC+ of 99. Iannetta’s wRC+ of 110 was good for 13th in all of baseball among catchers with at least 250 plate appearances. And both of them did it for a fraction of what it may cost to lockup McCann.

Of course, McCann will be 30 next year, crazy-expensive and is already heading into decline. That, unfortunately, has been the Angels modus operandi the last couple of seasons when evaluating talent on the free agent market.

Damnit. Damnit, damnit, damnit. Now I just know that this is going to happen. Damnit.

None of this is to say that Brian McCann is a bad player. If this were three years ago, I’d be unveiling a kickstarter fund in this article in hopes of raising enough money to sign him. But this isn’t three years ago. And given the Angels misappropriation of funds over the last few seasons, it would be nice to see them get as far away from these rumors as possible.

Basically, Jon Heyman needs to not write about the Angels.