{"id":37947,"date":"2013-11-25T12:45:10","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T16:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=37947"},"modified":"2020-07-09T12:45:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T16:45:19","slug":"happy-trails-brian-mccann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=37947","title":{"rendered":"Happy trails, Brian McCann"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

It seems like it was just yesterday, when Brian McCann hit a three-run home run off of Roger Clemens in the playoffs.\u00a0 And in the metaphorical tomorrow when we refer to next year, the 2014 season,\u00a0Brian McCann will no longer be a member of the Atlanta Braves, but the New York Yankees<\/a>, who have historically been known to gobble up players of the highest talents simply because they can afford to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contrary to the popular notion that \u201ceveryone hates the Yankees,\u201d I actually don\u2019t.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s sometimes frustrating to hear how the rich keep getting richer, whenever the Yankees secure the services of yet another highly talented free agent, but the fact of the matter is that in spite of their organization\u2019s propensity to believe that championships are acquired by amassing the most talent, regardless of how much it may cost, the Yankees are just as subject to the crap shoot of winning baseball championships as would be teams with far lesser payrolls, like the Oakland A\u2019s, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Atlanta Braves.\u00a0 They\u2019ve won just one championship since the start of the millennium.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier for me to say this, given my gradual detachment from rampant Braves\/baseball fandom, but I\u2019m happy for Brian McCann.\u00a0 He would have been absolutely stupid and out of his mind if he turned down the contract that the Yankees offered him (five years, $80 million).\u00a0 As a man now in his 30s, with a toddler of his own, the opportunity to essentially secure his entire family\u2019s financial well-being in such a fell swoop is a total no-brainer for McCann.\u00a0 Even though I\u2019m southern born-and-bred and a Braves fan, I can\u2019t be mad at McCann for taking this deal and going up to big bad evil New York; like I said, he would be completely mental if he didn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regardless of the quick acceptance of the departure of one of the best Braves players in the last decade, it really is a melancholy time for Braves fans.\u00a0 For the better part of the last eight years, McCann was a force on the roster; at first being the chubby-cheeked, baby-face rookie who hit so well upon his call-up, and we in Atlanta watched him mature into a man who grew up before our very eyes as he hit home runs,\u00a0made All-Star games perennially<\/a>, and accepted and took on responsibility as one of the team\u2019s core leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

But when the day is over, it\u2019s still more important to lead his personal team \u2013 his family. \u00a0And as unfortunate as it sounds, the Atlanta Braves aren\u2019t the same team from back when Ted Turner personally owned the organization and wasn\u2019t the least bit shy about opening up the wallet to spend the kind of dollars that probably could have ensured he stayed on the team.\u00a0 Fortunately for McCann, someone was, and unfortunately for all the Yankee-haters, it was the Yankees.<\/span><\/p>\n

It really was a no-brainer, that it ended up being the Yankees.\u00a0 The writing was on the wall even a few years ago, when Jorge Posada officially retired from the team.\u00a0 The Yankees had absolutely no catching relief anywhere in sight, in free agency, or in their minor league system.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even need to cite any sources to know that Yankee fans and the team were already eyeing the end of the 2013 season as the time it would be when Brian McCann would hit free agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joining the Yankees is win for all parties involved; even the Braves, believe it or not.\u00a0 The Yankees fill a massive position of need, with Brian McCann now assuming the catching duties.\u00a0 Brian McCann has $80 million smackeroos which should very likely secure his and his family\u2019s financial freedom for a very long time.\u00a0 And even the Braves, with McCann departing, actually receive a compensatory draft pick in next year\u2019s draft, and in this day and age of baseball, those draft picks have the chance to be massive jackpots, although usually the results are really far off.\u00a0 The only ones really not happy with this are the diehard Braves fans that are also Yankee-haters; I would have to say that maybe 3-4 years ago, I would be one of them, but I guess I\u2019m kind of growing up, and just don\u2019t care that much anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

But even still, I will say that it a little sad to hear about McCann moving on.\u00a0 It\u2019s been eight years, so it\u2019s always been kind of a given to expect seeing Brian McCann behind the plate and hitting 20 home runs a year.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always been a fan of his, even when there was that five minutes when everyone else was fawning over Jeff Francoeur over him.\u00a0 By no means am I not going to continue to be a fan of Brian McCann, because he\u2019s still an awesome baseball player, but more importantly a person that I grew to like.\u00a0 He was always respectful of the game (although\u00a0<\/em>sometimes a little overkill<\/em><\/a>), and was always cordial and polite to the fans and media alike.\u00a0 And the guy was a huge fan of\u00a0Saved by the Bell<\/em>, which is always a positive thing in my book.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not next year though; likely not any other year again, for that matter.\u00a0 Baseball players\u2019 careers don\u2019t last forever, and especially catchers, who endure more physical battery on a nightly basis than anyone else.\u00a0 Brian McCann is a Brave no longer, and that simple thought, does kind of suck.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to move his bobbleheads off of the top shelf, and tuck him in the back with former Braves\/former-team bobbleheads like Mark Teixeira, Shin-Soo Choo, David DeJesus, and Josh Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sorry to see him go, but I will sincerely wish him the best throughout the rest of his career.\u00a0 At least being on the Yankees, there\u2019s a high probability of seeing him on television fairly often, as Yankee games are highly favored by all MLB-broadcasting networks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy trails, Heap.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be missed in Atlanta, for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems like it was just yesterday, when Brian McCann hit a three-run home run off of Roger Clemens in the playoffs.\u00a0 And in the metaphorical tomorrow when we refer to next year, the 2014 season,\u00a0Brian McCann will no longer be a member of the Atlanta Braves, but the New York Yankees, who have historically … Continue reading Happy trails, Brian McCann<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,66,79,15],"class_list":["post-37947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-cashmoney","tag-og"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37949,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37947\/revisions\/37949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}