Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Just a day after signing ace starter Jacob deGrom to a blockbuster contract, the Texas Rangers could look to reunite their new acquisition with a familiar face in New York Mets catcher James McCann, per Buster Olney of ESPN.

According to Olney, the Rangers are going to continue to be aggressive this offseason as they look to build around their sparkly new toy in deGrom, and McCann may be a potential target. McCann is widely known to be available and owed $24 million over the next two years. Per Olney, the Mets could shed at least some of that salary in any potential deal. The Rangers are in the market for a catcher and McCann could make some sense given that he has caught 12 of deGrom’s starts over 75 2/3 innings. During that span, deGrom has a 1.67 ERA with 114 strikeouts and nine walks.

McCann signed a four-year, $40 million contract with the Mets back in 2021. Considered as the second best catcher available behind J.T. Realmuto that winter, McCann was seen as a big upgrade both defensively and offensively for the Mets having slashed a career-high .289/.360/.536 with seven home runs and 15 RBI in 2020 for the Chicago White Sox. He also had a fielding percentage of .985 and a caught stealing percentage of 33 that year.

However, McCann has been somewhat of a disappointment in Queens. In 182 games as a Met, the 32-year-old has hit .220/.282/.328 with a combined 13 homers and 64 RBI. His ugly -0.1 WAR in 2022 is indicative of the veteran’s offensive struggles over his first two years as a member of the New York Mets. While McCann has been solid behind the plate with his strong arm, his offensive struggles have already made the contract he signed two years ago look like a bad one.

Plus, McCann has become somewhat expendable. With Tomas Nido establishing himself as a solid role player, the Mets could decide to move forward with a catching tandem of Nido and phenom prospect Francisco Álvarez in 2023. Álvarez was called up to the majors late on during the 2022 regular season and he could be ready to make the leap on a full-time basis come the start of spring training. As such, the Mets could afford to trade McCann now and if they can get a team to eat some of his remaining salary, then that will give the front office the freedom to go out and make other moves this winter.