The New York Mets have a new catcher. No, it’s not J.T. Realmuto, and while that would’ve been awesome, bringing James McCann into the fold is still very exciting.

Most of that is because the Mets are addressing an area of the roster that’s struggled greatly in recent years. In each of the last three seasons, New York’s cumulative catcher fWAR hasn’t ranked better than 20th in baseball. Although I love Wilson Ramos and felt bad about what he dealt with off the field during a tough year, his glove work didn’t help the Mets’ pitching staff.

It seems like McCann is maturing as a hitter (109 wRC+ in ‘19, 144 in ‘20), which is encouraging at such a physically demanding position. However, what’s more eye-popping is the positive defensive reputation he’ll be bringing to Citi Field.

We can talk about the upgrade McCann will potentially be for a while, but as this news broke over the weekend, three thoughts immediately came to mind.

Overpaying Is No Longer A Backbreaker

The Mets had been connected with McCann via hot stove reports for what fees like a week or two. When those reports first started linking them together, the contract terms floated about were four years and $36 million. While the term is still the same, the only thing we know about the money is it’s a smidge over $40 million, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

My first reaction was that it was a slight overpay, but then I shrugged it off because that’s no longer a huge problem. For years and years, we had to be concerned with exact dollar amounts since the Wilpons’ budget was small (compared to other teams in a similar position). Even having to add on another $5 million to any negotiation would’ve led to all kinds of ramifications for the remainder of any winter.

But now…who cares? Lots of people in the comments sections and on social media talking about how the Mets overpaid for McCann. Did they? Yea, probably. That’s sometimes the price of doing business, though. Steve Cohen is not only aware of that, but he’s also comfortable with actually putting it into practice. This is the biggest benefit of having the richest owner in baseball (that still sounds weird and wonderful to say) — when other teams get involved and drive up a player’s price, it won’t deter the Mets from playing hardball if they really want said player.

While the Los Angeles Angels seemingly drove up McCann’s price a little, it wasn’t nearly enough to justify walking away.

Practicing What They’re Preaching

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what Sandy Alderson said about the Mets’ on-field product during his re-introductory presser last month. He discussed how the defense has been lacking, and that he’d take some blame because of how his front office operated during his first stint in New York. It sounded like that was one area he definitely wanted to improve for 2021.

Now, if us Mets fans know anything about the last few years, it’s that talk means nothing unless it’s backed up by actions. And lots of times, the words just ended up being a bunch of hot air. Agreeing to terms with McCann was the first sign of this regime actually doing what they said they were going to do about this particular situation.

As we can see in the above tweet, McCann comes with an excellent reputation as a pitch framer, which will obviously the entire staff, and especially closer Edwin Diaz.

It always confused me that the Mets were so invested in young, elite starting pitching leading up to their playoff appearances in 2015 and 2016 and so frequently sacrificed the defensive capability of those playing behind them. Obviously, there was a different set of circumstances, but bringing in McCann demonstrates that defense will no longer be forgotten when pursuing available players.

This was something I noticed about some big-name offseason targets for the Mets back in October. While Realmuto won’t be coming to Flushing and trading for Francisco Lindor may not happen, Alderson and new general manager Jared Porter can keep making defense (and offense) a priority by signing George Springer.

Spending Is Already In Unfamiliar Territory

It’s fun knowing we have an owner with the ability to spend money on players to improve the on-field product. It’s even more fun to watch that newfound financial flexibility actually get to work when the front office signs players.

This began when Trevor May signed his two-year, $15.5 million deal with New York, and we all knew that was only the beginning. Now with McCann accounting for $40-plus million (and Marcus Stroman accepting the $18.9 million qualifying offer), New York has already outspent what they did last winter, and it’s not even Christmas yet.

What makes it fun is that, still, we know New York isn’t close to being done. Springer could (hopefully) join the fray at any moment, and then the front office could turn its full full focus on making upgrades to a starting rotation that was pretty bad behind Jacob deGrom in 2020.

There have been winters in recent years where the Mets did spend some serious coin in free agency ($79 million plus acquiring Robinson Cano prior to ’19, $88.545 million prior to ’18, and $136.7 million prior to ’17). However, coming to terms with either Springer or Trevor Bauer would easily surpass all of those numbers (without subtracting payroll elsewhere). It’s not just that the Mets are spending money, it’s that they’re spending it and there’s no reports discussing how much is left to spend. They’ll be done when they feel as though they’ve appropriately filled the holes in this roster for 2021.