Mets manager Buck Showalter has informed reporters, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, that catcher James McCann will be placed on the 10-day injured list due to an oblique injury. Fellow catcher Patrick Mazeika will be recalled to take his place on the active roster. Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News relays that Showalter said McCann will be out longer than the ten-day minimum.
On the heels of two strong seasons with the White Sox in 2019 and 2020, the Mets signed McCann to a four-year, $40.6MM deal going into the 2021 season. Unfortunately for both parties, things haven’t gone according to plan since then. McCann slumped to a .232/.294/.349 line last year, producing a wRC+ of 80. This year, he was shelved by a broken hamate bone and now this oblique injury, limiting him to just 30 games on the season so far. In that time, he’s hit just .183/.250/.293 for a wRC+ of 60.
With McCann missing significant time, the that’s led to increased action for Tomás Nido and Mazeika, with both of those players struggling to make use of the opportunity. Nido is hitting .221/.264/.248 through 52 games for a wRC+ of just 52. Mazeika has gotten into 17 contests and hit just .167/.200/.292 for a wRC+ of 41.
The Mets have been one of the best teams in baseball this year, currently leading the NL East with a record of 53-32. With the August 2 trade deadline now just over three weeks away, catcher stands out as one area with room for improvement, especially if McCann is going to be out for a while. Although no specific timeline has been provided, the fact that the Mets immediately expect him to be gone longer than ten days suggests that he could be facing a lengthy absence.
MLBTR’s list of the top trade candidates featured two catchers, with Willson Contreras taking the #1 slot and Sean Murphy at #41. However, recent reporting has suggested the Mets would like to hang onto their top prospects and would prefer to make deals by taking on large contracts. Contreras is a pure rental but the Cubs will surely be looking to extract as much prospect capital as they can in order to help them return to competition in the years to come. They’re running a lower payroll than in recent years and won’t need to worry about cost savings. As for Murphy, he hasn’t even reached arbitration yet and would only be moved by the A’s if they were bowled over by the return package, then turning to prospect Shea Langeliers behind the dish.
Another wild card that could come into play is Mets’ catching prospect Francisco Alvarez. He’s one of the best prospects in the game, with Baseball America ranking him #10, FanGraphs #6 and MLB Pipeline #2. Just 2o years old, he began the season in Double-A and mashed his way through with 18 home runs and a line of .277/.368/.553 for a wRC+ of 148. He was recently promoted to Triple-A but has struggled in a tiny five-game sample, hitting .125/.286/.188. Many Mets’ fans are already calling for his promotion, with those calls surely to only grow louder if McCann stays out of action and the club can’t find a suitable replacement on the trade market.
Mets should have paid up for Contreras last year instead of Baez.
Had McAnn and needed Baez’ defense and versatility. I do think they need to get him this year, though.
Keep in mimd Contretras has pretty much DTD all season. While an obvious upgrade, he has his own injury issues.
He has the most plate appearances of any qualified catcher per fangraphs leaderboards…
Yes. Probably paying for it now. He’s recently coming off a stretch where he sat 5 games in a row. Annoying for my fantasy team, but he’s been solid overall.
Me too. Luckily I have Realmuto too and Cron to play first base. He’s had a monster year.
Mazeika is one of the worst players I’ve ever seen if you don’t call up Alvarez trade for Pedro Severino who is the Brewers third catcher.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Cam Gallagher from KC would be a nice cheap solution.
Sean Murphy. Or yea, Severino. Mets won’t get Contreras bc they aren’t giving up any of their top 10 prospects.
Sean Murphy would cost good prospects since he is a cheap player with great defense and a cannon of a arm. I doubt A’s are even considering trading him unless they get over paid for him.
A’s murphy would likely be more expensive in a trade right now that contreras
maybe not, but they are definitely comparable in terms of this years deadline value
Just call up Alvarez to see if he can cut it. He may surprise and the position is his. He can always DH as the Mets need an upgrade there.
Yea that’s an intriguing idea but that kind of plays fast and loose with the pitching. He could have negative effect there.
I get the idea of letting Alvarez develop more (and his defense/game-calling definitely needs it) but Mets catchers have collectively had something like a 50 OPS+ this year. McCann/Nido have been great defensively, but their offense is not going to cut it. It’s got to be one of the worst hitting positions for any team in all of baseball.
If any of McCann, Nido, or Mazieka were doing anything with the bat this year, you’d let Alvarez develop the rest of the season. But you’re in a heated divisional/playoff race with the Braves and Phillies. I think it warrants calling up Alvarez.
How would the staff feel about pitching in crucial games to a rookie catcher this late in the season?
Right, that’s the problem. A rookie catcher with a poor defensive rep.
Right. Like I said, I think if anyone was doing anything at all with the bat, it’s a no-brainer: Alvarez stays down and develops. But a .200/.244/.269/.513 slash, which is what Mets catchers have hit this season, is ludicrous from a starting position on the field. They have to do something here. If the hitting from the catcher position stays this bad, maybe in a month or so, you bring Alvarez up.
I think the opposite. I wouldn’t be willing to sacrifice the development of my best prospect by throwing him into the majors during a legitimate world series run. I’d rather make a trade for an upgrade at the position for this year and let Alvarez come up sometime next year, during McCann’s final year on contract.
A) McCann has two more years. Next year is not his final year.
B) What are you giving up for a catcher upgrade? It better not be much considering you have Alvarez right there already.
C) If you have a ‘legitimate world series run’, I think it’s worth it to consider bringing him up.
Contreras is a defensive liability; when you weigh the plus of increased offense to the fall-off defensively, I don’t want to part with prospects to get him. Especially since this is going to be a seller’s market a lot of teams on the fringe of a wild card spot
When right, he is one of the best catchers in Baseball! This from a Brewer fan who sees him play against us all the time!
It’s amazing how bad we’ve been producing good catchers in our farm system over the years – Alvarez being the outlier. How come we can’t ever draft a catcher or two early in the draft like other teams?
Catchers are sort of down everywhere.
Let’s try this again: Contreras + cash in 2022 (Willson’s salary) for Baty + Butto + McCann + cash in 2023 and 2024 to cover part of McCann’s salary.
No, Baty is in the top 100 and they’re not giving him up for a rental
I will give you Severino for almost nothing. A hope from a true-blue brew Fan!
Bad as he is Severino is still a huge upgrade over what we have now which makes me even more frustrated with the fans who still claim we’re ok with Nido. Much easier to upgrade a catcher than DH which would require an actual valued commodity as Smith/Davis really aren’t that bad in context.
Mets will trade for Contreras. Cubs want prospects not payroll. Cohen might be able to sign him too. McCann did much better as a tandem with Grandal. A lot of money for Uncle Steve to pay to pay
but he wants to win.
Contreras should not happen. Mets need someone stable with good credentials with the glove and the bat. Contreras is more with the bat, less both the glove than the Mets current trio. Alvarez is too young to
Popped into the pennant race.