Chicago White Sox: Five players to trade before Spring Training

The Chicago White Sox had one of the biggest surprises in all of baseball last season when James McCann was an All-Star caliber catcher. In fact, he did represent the White Sox for the American League All-Stars at the summer classic. He was so good in his first year with the team. He earned himself a nice little extension during this past offseason. He wasn’t quite as good at the plate in the second half as he was in the first but he still had a big moment after big moment type year.

He slashed .273/.328/.460. He had 18 home runs, 60 RBIs, 62 runs scored, and a 3.8 WAR for the White Sox in 2019. He was also one of the best defensive catchers in the league as well. He really helped some of the younger pitchers out with his framework throughout the year as well. Lucas Giolito loved having McCann to throw to in 2019, he claims it really helped him.

So why would the White Sox want to trade McCann now? They signed Yasmani Grandal to a four-year deal at the beginning of the offseason to be their catcher. Grandal is one of the very best catchers in all of baseball and makes a lot of money so he is going to see a bulk of the starts behind the plate. It was originally thought that McCann might DH as a result but they also signed Edwin Encarnacion for that role. If they wanted to trade McCann while his value is high, they definitely should.