New York Mets Trade James McCann to Baltimore Orioles
The active New York Mets stayed busy Wednesday, as they swung a trade with the Baltimore Orioles.
New York is sending catcher James McCann to Baltimore, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Mark Feinsand of MLB adds that the deal is for a player to be named later, and the Mets will pay McCann $19 of the $24 million left on his contract over the next two years.
McCann, 32, signed a four-year, $40 million deal with the Mets prior to the 2021 season in what was the first long-term deal in the Steve Cohen era of owning the team.
The California native never quite got it together in New York, as he was worth under 1.0 fWAR combined over his two seasons in Queens.
This past season, McCann appeared in just 61 games and had a meager triple slash of .195/.257/.282 with a 59 wRC+ and .243 wOBA.
Behind the dish, McCann ranked No. 25 by Baseball Prospectus in Framing Runs Above Average (FRAA) at 3.9, and No. 25 in Catcher Defensive Adjustment (CDA) also at 3.9, which was an improvement over last year where he was middle of the pack in both categories, though he played in far fewer games.
Baseball Savant ranked his framing in the 62nd percentile in 2022, though his pop time to second base was way down in the 14th percentile.
The writing was on the wall for McCann when the Mets reportedly signed catcher Omar Narváez to a one-year deal last week.
That in combination with longtime Met Tomás Nido and top prospect Francisco Álvarez also in the mix at backstop made for a tight squeeze.
With the Mets having to make space on the 40-man roster for Narváez, right-handed pitcher Adam Ottavino who reportedly re-signed with the Mets Tuesday, and Carlos Correa who reportedly signed with the Mets early Wednesday morning, some shuffling had to be done to accommodate the new acquisitions.
Feinsand adds that because of tax implications and CBT recalculations, the Mets will save $8 million in the trade, even though they are absorbing $19 million of his contract.
Expect even more roster moves to be made in the coming days with the 40-man roster essentially at capacity.
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