Other clubs have been calling the Mets about the potential availability of outfielder Mark Canha, per ESPN’s Buster Olney, who lists the Mariners as a “possible match” given Seattle’s prior interest in the 34-year-old as a free agent (Twitter link).
Canha is playing out the second season of a two-year, $26.5MM deal signed in free agency during the 2021-22 offseason. His contract contains an $11.5MM club option with a $2MM buyout — an effective $9.5MM net decision for the Mets or for any team that acquires him.
While Canha isn’t hitting for the same power he has in the past, he’s drawing walks at a robust 10.5% clip and enjoying a generally solid season at the plate. None of his rate stats stand out, but his .244/.346/.396 batting line checks in about 11% better than average, by measure of wRC+. He’s striking out at a lower-than-average 17.3% clip and has also swiped seven bases in seven tries. He rarely chases pitches off the plate and makes contact on those offerings at a well above-average rate when he does (69%, compared to the league-average 62.5%).
In the outfield, Canha is best deployed in a corner, although he’s seen plenty of work in center throughout his career and still possesses above-average speed (65th percentile, per Statcast). Statcast also rates his jumps on fly-balls near the bottom of the league in 2023, however, and his arm strength also checks in a bit below average. Canha also has ample experience at first base, and the Mets have played him there for 87 innings this season.
Canha is earning a $10.5MM salary this season, with about $4.12MM of that sum yet to be paid out as of this writing. Add in the $2MM buyout, and he’s still owed a total of $6.12MM. However, Mets owner Steve Cohen is the game’s most willing spender and could potentially enhance the return on a trade by paying that sum down for a trade partner. The Mets did as much when trading Eduardo Escobar to the Angels and were also willing to eat the remainder of Chris Flexen’s contract in order to effectively purchase righty Trevor Gott from the Mariners.
Speaking of Seattle, the M’s make a sensible enough landing spot — if they choose to add at the deadline. Their offseason addition of veteran outfielder AJ Pollock was intended to add a platoon option in the outfield who could do damage against left-handed pitching, but it’s been an abject flop to date. Pollock is hitting .169/.222/.315 and has actually hit lefties worse than righties.
Canha isn’t a pure lefty masher — his career platoon splits are closer to even — but he’s been solid against southpaws in 2023. Granted, his .228 average when holding the platoon advantage is sub-par, but he’s getting on base at a strong .347 clip and slugging .418 when facing a lefty. That’s been par for the course in his career; he’s a lifetime .236/.327/.425 hitter against southpaws.
The Mets have arguably been the most disappointing team in MLB this season, sitting five games under .500 — 16.5 back in the division and seven back in the Wild Card race — despite an MLB-record payroll in excess of $300MM. Cohen said late last month, when his Mets were 36-43, that he “wouldn’t add” to the roster if his team was in a similar position at the deadline, calling it “silly” to do so.
New York is 9-7 in that time, including three straight wins, but they’ll likely need to rattle off a few more wins before even giving legitimate consideration to adding pieces at the deadline. In the meantime, short-term assets like Canha, Tommy Pham, David Robertson and Adam Ottavino will likely continue to be the focus of potential trade inquiries.
Canha is a good possible add for several teams due to his versatility. In addition to the Mariners, Dodgers, Brewers and Marlins could all possibly use him if the price is cheap enough.
I pray that Bloom isn’t listening because the Sox have tried to get Canha for years.
Mariners need a better RH hitting option than Pollock and the Dodgers need Outfielders period.
“Tried to get Canha”…Apparently he didn’t try too hard, because in the last few yrs Canha could have easily been acquired via trade or free agency. He’s not Babe Ruth or Ohtani after all.
Brewers I think would b the best fit of those u mentioned. I think Marlins need a bit more potent of a bat and Mariners need a more consistent bat. He definitely could add value somewhere even if just as a depth piece.
Cahna is a good ballplayer stuck with a lousy manager. He should be in the lineup every day playing corner outfield.
What exactly is he good at that a contender really needs to put them over the edge?? His 15 HR a season power? .248 career BA?? Average dedense?? He fills a hole in a lineup, he dies not do anything exceptionally well or even really good. He’s a fine depth piece but he’s not they type of player contending teams give up assets to put themover the top.
What would the Mets potentially get in return from Seattle?
The Mets would get the privilege of Cohen paying off another salary in full, like Escobar & Flexen.
I don’t think Cohen is looking for “salaries paid”, since he’s richer than King David and will pay any salary, Cohen is looking for prospects, to strengthen and deepen his farm.
Read; S a r c a s m.
Low level prospect.
Weird how narratives go.
The words “enjoying a generally solid season”
Yeah. He’s dead weight. If any team has the slightest bit of interest, Mets should unload him, regardless of that whole buying / selling / standing pat thing. It was a weird signing from the beginning, although he did have a decent season last year. This year, not so much.
Canha’s numbers will improve on another team. Mets are just poison this year.
Truth! Alonso has been doing his best Dave Kingman impression lately.
With Vog as the left handed George Foster.
Alonso hasn’t been the same since he was hit on the wrist earlier this season. It’s possible he needs surgery and/or rehab but is cleared to play.
.244 is “solid” compared to Vogelslug.
Hitting 10% above league average. Is that not “generally solid”?
Those guys aren’t watching many Mets games, to know that Canha has been yanked in and out of the lineup, which tends to diminish players and has been “generally solid” when called upon. And I’m not just saying that, just because Canha always hits for me, when I use him in the “MLB The Show” video game lol.
I watch every game. He’s been yanked in and out of the lineup because he hasn’t been generally solid & Pham has been.
He’s better than league average. He’s not your problem…but he’s also not the solution.
Cant see this guys face without thinking about him yelling at Ohtani and then apologizing.
Who spun up this idea?? I bet the switchboard at Citi Field is overwhelmed.
Amazing how these analytic comments say he’s gone…..try watching a game and you will see he is useless with no impact.
Canha is on the bench a lot in favor of Marte, Nimmo and Pham. For a guy who’s been yanked in and out of the lineup and spent long stretches on the bench, he’s generally been useful.
Well he needs to be better in that role because he’s not exactly good enough to play every day, especially on a “contending” team.
Canha at this point in his career is an average fill in player. Hes servicable to put out there but isn’t going to win any awards. Very nice guy that tries hard. It be sad to see Canha go but its pretty clear that he doesn’t have a role on this team right now with Pham’s resurgence
Pham will likely be traded as well.
Both are rentals, Eppler needs to move them by the deadline. Reshape the roster in the offseason.
Bingo.
There’s only a few awards. Most regular players won’t win one. That doesn’t mean they don’t contribute. Neither Stroman or Cease are likely to win any awards, Just like Canha, they will provide value.
Cahna is a career .248 hitter who once hit 20 HRs in juiced ball season. He is a serviceable defender. For a contender trying to find any everyday player who provides value, it simply is not Cahna.
He’d be a solid Backup / part time DH for a contender. Nothing more, nothing less.
Which is exactly why this has Dodgers written all over it. He won’t cost more than a low level prospect, and Cahna is an able bodied league average at just about everything guy the 2023 Dodgers are seeking.
Pride Night legend!
Something I’ve noticed about Canha is that he is a HBP magnate.
Magnet too.
Bit of an oversight to not mention it in this write up. He’s at 64 combined for just this season and the 2 prior.
The Mets hitters tend to crowd the plate and lean into pitches, which I have absolutely nothing against. Smart baseball. It’s just annoying when Gary Cohen always mentions how often the Mets are beamed as if he’s complaining that it’s intentional.
@Von
Same with Showalter, shakes his head every time a hitter gets hit but I bet you my left thumb he’s happy as can be that somebody got on base. Not knocking Buck, just stating the obvious.
trade Canha , Vogelbach, McNeil, Carasco, & Scherzer (could also be called “not much value”, “even less value”, “aging middle infielder”, “best days way behind him” and “so-called ace, but it was Strasburg who was the real ace in DC, and he came up lame in LA…..and he just seems like more of a whiner/complainer than an ace) for any prospects.
The clubhouse might actually get the wake up call it needs, Mauricio would get a shot at 2B and Scherzer can go disrupt another team.
Lol Stras was not their ace.
Aces come up big in the postseason.
As a National, Scherzer put up a 2.93 ERA over 49.1 playoff innings, Strasburg had a 1.46 ERA over 55.1 innings. When it counted most Strasburg was absolutely their Ace
If you want to go round 2, in the 2019 WS Stras won the MVP 14 innings 2.51 ERA to Scherzers 10 innings 3.60 ERA. Strasburg stuff was filthy, absolutely their Ace
Bstrowman9 & WampumWalloper;
Both of you are correct.
In 2019 Scherzer was considered the Nationals #1 pitcher (Ace), while Strasburg had both the better season and post-season.
It got Strasburg a 7 year / $245,000,000 contract before 2020. Since then he’s started 8 games and pitched 31.1 innings, with no return date set.
Meanwhile Scherzer has been paid around $15m from the Nats in both 2020 and 2021( $30m total), in 2022 and 2023 got $43,333,334 each year from the Mets, and has an option in 2024 for another $43,333,334 in which there’s a good chance he’ll accept. So that makes $30m from the Nationals and $130m from the Mets since the 2020 season. But wait!….there’s more…..Max also has gotten $30m over the past 2 years in deferred payments from the Nats, make his total gross salary $190m between 2020-2024.
Point being that neither one of those guys give a hoot who was the “Ace” in 2019.
Mets should move all pending free agents that they don’t intend to being back in 2024.
I think every team would like to move players they are not bringing back next season. The problem there is usually they have a reason why they don’t want to bring them back. That same reason is often why other teams won’t want to give up anything of value for said players.
I mean I’d love to sell more garbage every week for top $. But the reality is its garbage and nobody else wants what I throw to the curb.
Tigers3232;
B I N G O
And it’s worse when you owe the garbage that’s picked up money.
LOL
Perfect fit for the Yankees. Can play the outfield, better than what they have, and is relatively cheap, the most important feature for cashman
Canha to Yankees for Andujar and Frazier boom bring out the flags
The sun is setting on their 2022 free agent class. Marte, Escobar & Canha have combined for 0.4 bWAR for their combined $42M salary.
Sure were an awful lot cheering those acquisitions. Now those same people who cheered are just complainingg, and have become an “awful lot.”
I believe all 2 were signed in same day, I know 2 for sure. Had it not happened like that, I’d say Marte would ve been the only one that drew that much attention. Doing all at once tho kind of sensationalized a team making a splash.
OK Joe;
But look how many newspapers were sold and Internet clicks were gotten over stories they wrote about those 3 players.
Kelenic. It’s the least they can do after dumping Cano on us. The player we should’ve never traded.
Outside of April 2023, Kelenic has been awful…..and he broke his foot kicking a cooler….awful hitter with a temper….
Yeah, if Diaz hadn’t had that freak celebration injury and rough first season in NY, the Mets could be considered the winners of that trade even with Canó’s contract. One thing to remember is that the Wilpons were running the place when that trade was made and that they could’ve gotten Seattle to eat more of his salary if they had included McNeil in that deal instead of Gerson Bautista.
What would we get for canha,and I wouldn’t want to trade with the M’s!
Will be sad to see him go, I know Mets pitching has been less than consistent and the hitting atrocious, like the polar bear flirting with the Mendoza line (.200), I might shake things up and hire Keith Hernandez as a part time hitting coach ( I know he’s also announcing) and tap that excellent knowledge they have,(the same with Ron Darling part time pitching coach), like tapping a gold mine. People may laugh at me, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.
Both Hernandez and Darling have said multiple times in the past that they have no interest in coaching. Hernandez has spent some spring training time as an adviser. That’s the extent of his desire to coach.