Brian McCann has cleared waivers. Should the Yankees look to trade him?

As is customary following the non-waiver deadline, teams generally place players with expensive contracts on waivers to see if any team is desperate enough to claim them or be in a position to possibly trade them. In the case of the Yankees, Brian McCann cleared waivers and can now be traded.

McCann’s name surfaced in trade rumors before the deadline with his former team, the Atlanta Braves, being mentioned as a potential landing spot. Atlanta was said to want the Yankees to pick up a chunk of McCann’s remaining salary, which New York was not willing to do at the time. For that reason, no deal ever really got off the ground.

Now that McCann has cleared waivers, he can still be traded. He isn’t having a stellar season, but he is providing league-average offense with some good defense behind the plate. His 15 home runs could be nice for a team in the playoff hunt looking to add some power to their lineup.

The more likely alternative for the Yankees is keeping McCann around to mentor Gary Sanchez as he transitions into the Yankees’ catcher. Without Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, or Carlos Beltran on the roster in 2017, the DH role could be mostly vacant. That would allow the Yankees to play both McCann and Sanchez while keeping both their bats in the lineup.

By all accounts, it seems like McCann is one of the leaders in the clubhouse. That may not be worth much to fans, but it’s easy to see how it might be valuable to young players just starting their big league careers. If the team trades away more players, like Brett Gardner for example, in the offseason, McCann could end up being the go-to guy for taking younger players under his wing.

If the Yankees get a call from some team desperate to have McCann they should absolutely trade him. Shedding his salary would open up more payroll for the near future, and it would give Sanchez a clear path to being the new starting catcher.

However, if no deal is possible, keeping McCann isn’t the worst plan either. Someone has to DH next year, and having someone who can work closely with Sanchez can only help him transition into a big league starting catcher.

Having a player you could trade if necessary, but not having to trade him, is a great position to be in. The Yankees can end up on the positive end of things no matter what they decide to do. Brian Cashman has found a way to work out some stellar deals already this month, so maybe he has one more left in him. If not, having McCann around to DH next year will certainly not be the end of the world.

Do you think the Yankees are better off trading McCann or keeping him around for the future?