Mets deep in talks to sign James McCann as starting catcher, sources say

In need of a starting catcher, the Mets were deep into contract talks Wednesday afternoon with free agent James McCann, sources told Newsday.

Multiple reports said the sides were close to reaching a four-year deal, but people familiar with the process cautioned that that was "premature." The Angels reportedly also have been negotiating with McCann.

The Mets signing McCann would mean passing on J.T. Realmuto, by far the top backstop available on the open market and arguably the best catcher in baseball.

Realmuto and McCann have been comparable hitters the past two years — since the start of McCann’s breakout in 2019 — but Realmuto comes with a longer track record of success and greater overall ability, particularly defensively. Realmuto is nine months younger than McCann, who is heading into his age-31 season.

McCann, though, presumably would be cheaper and likely would agree to a shorter contract. If they fill their catcher hole with a less-expensive choice, it leaves the Mets more flexibility to go big in other areas of need: centerfield (George Springer is the top free agent) and the rotation (NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer is the best option available).

Any team that signs McCann to a multiyear contract would be betting that his recent improvements, which have been drastic, are sustainable.

McCann spent five mediocre-at-best seasons with the Tigers, who cut him after the 2018 season. He ended up with the White Sox and broke out, hitting .276 with a .334 OBP and .474 slugging percentage the past two years.

A closer examination of those numbers, though, raises questions. In 2019, he started with a great couple of months, slashing .316/.371/.502 and earning a spot on the All-Star team. But in the second half, those figures dropped to .226/.281/.413.

That left the White Sox unconvinced enough of McCann’s abilities that they signed Yasmani Grandal — also one of the best catchers around and a Mets target two winters ago — to a four-year, $73 million contract last offseason.

McCann was relegated to a timeshare at catcher in the abbreviated 2020 campaign. He performed well, hitting .289/.360/.536, but made only 27 starts.

That part-time role coincided with much-improved pitch-framing ability, previously a significant weakness for McCann.

McCann was tied for sixth, among 62 qualified catchers, with two runs via extra strikes, according to MLB’s movement-tracking Statcast technology. Realmuto and Grandal, for reference, were a tick better, tied for second with three runs apiece. Wilson Ramos, the Mets’ regular catcher, had zero.

In the previous five seasons, McCann averaged -8.8 runs per season because of his framing. Modern defensive metrics can be fickle, and it is not clear whether the small sample size of 2020 means McCann has turned a corner as a defender.

McCann, Realmuto or otherwise, the Mets need to add a catcher. They have three catchers on their 40-man roster: Tomas Nido, Ali Sanchez and Patrick Mazeika. Three of their 2020 backstops — Ramos, Robinson Chirinos and Rene Rivera — are free agents.

McCann would come to the Mets with one tangential connection to the team: He was youth-baseball teammates with Jeff McNeil in California. They hadn’t seen each other since they were about 13 years old until they were both first-time All-Stars in 2019.