Veteran catcher James McCann has received offers from at least four teams, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo writes, and the Red Sox are one of the suitors checking in on the backstop’s services. McCann has spent the last two seasons with the Orioles, and while Baltimore had shown interest in a potential reunion, the club’s recent signing of Gary Sanchez likely closes that door.
Sanchez is one of many available catchers who have already found new teams, leaving the Sox in a bit of a scramble to address the position. Speaking with Cotillo and other reporters during the Winter Meetings, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow noted simply that “there were more teams in need of catching than there were available catchers. That was the demographic that moved really, really quickly.”
Boston’s need is less glaring than most clubs, as the Red Sox are specifically looking for what Breslow described as “the right complement and right backup” for Connor Wong. McCann and Wong are both right-handed hitters, though manager Alex Cora downplayed hitting balance as less important than strong defense. This might not ideally fit McCann either, as Statcast’s metrics were particularly down on his overall defense in 2024, and a little mixed in general throughout his career.
A pair of strong seasons with the White Sox in 2019-20 lined McCann up to score a four-year, $40.6MM contract from the Mets during the 2020-21 offseason. Unfortunately, McCann’s hitting numbers tumbled in the aftermath of the signing, and the Mets then dealt him to the Orioles in December 2022 with New York eating the majority of McCann’s remaining salary. McCann hit only .228/.274/.382 in 459 PA and 134 games with the O’s over the last two seasons, but his ability to handle a bit more than just a backup’s share of catching duties allowed Baltimore extra flexibility in keeping Adley Rutschman’s bat in the lineup as a designated hitter.
