Here's a reassuring piece of Yankees news to ease you into the weekend--one of the New York Yankees' biggest acquisitions of the offseason was denied a trip of a lifetime and is happy about it.
Former Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann is using this Spring Training to get used to his surroundings as one of the newest members of the NY Yankees. The fact that he was taken off of the traveling squad who will head to Panama City just one day before they were scheduled to leave doesn't bother him.
In fact, he is quite elated to have the opportunity to get more time with Japanese starting pitchers Masahiro Tanaka and Hiroki Kuroda, along with fifth-starter option David Phelps--“I think I’ll get probably two more starts with each of them and we’ll be ready to roll,” McCann stated. “I know their stuff and I know what they like to do. If the season started tomorrow I’d be comfortable calling a game for both of them.”
The new NY Yankees backstop had spent the entirety of his nine-year Major League Baseball career with the Atlanta Braves, along with spending three-and-a-half seasons in the Braves' minor league system.
Coming over to the New York Yankees this offseason, Brian McCann is facing an accelerated assimilation process, including trying to bridge the language gap between himself, Tanaka, and Kuroda: “The conversations when some guys don’t speak English, (including) Latin players who don’t speak English, it’s (about) baseball."
“Everybody knows the key words to get the job done.”
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