Steve Cohen has been vocal about making major moves to win now for the Mets club that he just purchased so that they can compete with a loaded Atlanta Braves team. With 2018 All-Star Wilson Ramos hitting free agency, it leaves no backstop in Queens. Enter James McCann.
While McCann isn’t JT Realmuto, this would still be a major grab for the Mets. McCann, who came up and spent five years with the Detroit Tigers, signed with the White Sox in December of 2018 and hasn’t looked back. McCann, a stellar backstop throughout his career defensively outside of pitch framing, drastically improved in that regard. But, he also improved his offense, hitting to a .276/.334/.474 slash the last two seasons for an .808 OPS. This is a big improvement from .653 OPS throughout his Tigers tenure. He was elected to his first All-Star team in 2019.
McCann is certainly the second best catching option on the market behind superstar divisional-foe JT Realmuto, but with how high JT Realmuto’s price range, the pivot to McCann may prove to be a wise choice. Should the deal become official PSE will keep you updated.
