Yasmani Grandal
The Chicago White Sox surprised the world when they signed Yasmani Grandal to a four year deal in November. With a contract like that, he is going to be the team’s starting catcher for a while. No disrespect to McCann, but Grandal is an upgrade. He is an upgrade because he is one of the best catchers in the league. He will be another big bat in the middle of an already good lineup.
The White Sox looked like they might use McCann as a designated hitter when they announced the Grandal signing but they signed Edwin Encarnacion to take over that role. That leaves McCann to basically be the backup catcher. If he wasn’t traded, then it is fair to say that he might be Lucas Giolito‘s personal catcher in regular-season games.
Grandal and McCann would be one of the better duos in all of baseball, but the fact that Grandal is there to take a majority of the workload makes McCann expendable. A team might be willing to pay a premium for a guy like McCann who has a lot more to give than most backup catchers across the MLB. He could also probably provide some veteran leadership to another team that is rebuilding like the White Sox once were.