10:07pm: Both teams have announced a trade sending McCann and cash to Baltimore for a player to be named later. The Orioles designated infielder Tyler Nevin to clear a spot on their 40-man roster.
10:01pm: The O’s are assuming $5MM of the $24MM still to be paid on McCann’s contract, Feinsand adds (Twitter link). New York will kick in $19MM over the next two seasons.
9:54pm: New York is acquiring a player to be named later in the deal, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (on Twitter).
9:53pm: The Orioles are acquiring a catcher James McCann from the Mets, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Mets have been shopping McCann in recent days. New York agreed to terms with Omar Narváez on a two-year contract last Thursday. As soon as news of that agreement broke, it became clear the Mets were likely to deal one of their incumbent backstops. Neither McCann nor Tomás Nido could be sent to the minor leagues, and carrying three catchers on the 26-man roster would’ve been challenging. That’s before considering top prospect Francisco Alvarezwho figures to get an extended MLB look at some point soon after debuting late in the 2022 season.
McCann is at least assured of a roster spot in Baltimore. The O’s entered the day with just one catcher on their 40-man roster, making it an inevitability they’d bring in some help from outside the organization. Of course, that backstop is AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman. McCann will have to move into a backup role with the O’s. He’ll add a veteran presence to the bench for skipper Brandon Hyde.
The past couple seasons have been rough for McCann, who first joined the Mets over the 2020-21 offseason. New York placed a sizable bet on the veteran backstop’s previous couple of seasons with the White Sox. The University of Arkansas product hit .276/.334/.474 through 587 plate appearances for Chicago between 2019-20. That handily dwarfed the .240/.288/.366 mark he’d posted over the preceding four-plus seasons with the Tigers, and the Mets clearly felt he’d turned a corner offensively. They inked him to a four-year, $40.6MM free agent contract that handily topped most expectations.
More to come.
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