TODAY Sports

This offseason, we’ve been looking at the Mets’ history with free agency. Starting out the bad contract list were two players whose second turn with the Mets was unlike their first: Roger Cedeño and Jeurys Familia. Next is a former All-Star catcher who up until last year was the bane of Mets fans’ existence. 

There’s no recency bias here. The decision to sign James McCann and bypass other free-agent catching options in the winter of 2020, particularly J.T. Realmuto, was quickly regrettable.

The Mets acknowledged their mistake when they traded McCann to the Baltimore Orioles last December with two years and $24 million remaining on his contract (for which they will pay all but $5 million). The front office clearly felt they were better served with Tomás Nido, 20-year-old Francisco Álvarez, and newcomer Omar Narváez.

At four years and $40.6 million, McCann’s value to the Mets was that he could replicate his All-Star performance of 2019 with the Chicago White Sox — when as a 29-year-old he produced18 homers and a .789 OPS in 476 plate appearances. His shortened 2020 season was pretty respectable as well: a 143 OPS+ in 31 games despite the small sample size.

Met management chose to take McCann and not overpay for the superior two-time All-Star J.T. Realmuto. As it turned out, $40-plus million was a gross overpay for who they wound up getting. In two seasons, McCann’s 70 OPS+ was even below what he had early in his career with the Detroit Tigers. His 13 total homers matched his total in 2017 alone and his 161 strikeouts were more than his two-year output in Chicago. A .232/.294/.349 slash line over 112 games in 2021 was actually the high-water mark in Queens. The following year, he declined with a .195/.257/.282 performance.

In 2022, the Mets had the NL’s worst offensive output from the catching position. McCann’s presence in the lineup was limited because Nido’s production was relatively better (both at and behind the plate) plus he had trouble staying healthy. An injury to the hamate bone in his left wrist made his poor hitting worse and it hindered his usually adequate throwing ability. A left oblique strain sat him out for additional time. In total, McCann played just 61 games with a slash line of .195/.257/.282, three homers, and 18 RBIs.

Even his pitch-calling, a relative strength, came into question by a Mets’ ace. After the 2022 season, the acquisition of Narváez and the promotion of Álvarez was making McCann more expendable — even if it meant eating that remaining salary.

By getting a player to be named later in return from the Orioles, saving $5 million, and giving McCann the opportunity to mentor a young catching phenom in Baltimore, the Mets found the best solution to what can amount to an otherwise wasted contract and a failed experiment.