Let us commence exchanging opinions and perspective on James McCann

[Frayed Knot]

As I suspected was most likely, timing was the major factor in the McCann signing.



We had "great conversations" [with Realmuto's agents] Alderson said on Monday's Zoom call to introduce new GM Jared Porter ... “more than anything else, this was a timing issue for us,''

“We have a number of needs. We can afford to wait to fill some of them. We can't afford to wait to fill all of them.”



https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/

[nymr83]

makes sense. you dont want to wait out Realmuto and Springer and Bauer and watch everyone else sign.

[Benjamin Grimm]

There was probably quite a dropoff to the third best available catcher.

[Edgy MD]

Probably Tyler Flowers, so ... yeah, probably so.

[MFS62]

And in two to three years, Alvarez and/or Regnault will be here and McCann can, as Yogi Berra once said about Bill Dickey, "Learn them his experience".



Later

[A Boy Named Seo]

Let me be in the minority to say I'm kinda psyched on McCann. His body of work over the last two seasons (almost 600 PAs) has been very good. The advanced metrics seem to suggest he's figured something out both at the dish and behind it. StatCast numbers are sexy, even. I don't think Realmuto will be light years ahead of him for the next couple of years, and as McCann and Realmuto both devolve into old, crumbling catchers, we'll have the cheaper one on a shorter contract, which will make him easier to deal with.



I know moneymoneymoney-it-doesn't-matter, but the Mets were at about https://theathletic.com/2245239/2020/12/08/mets-winter-meetings-free-agency-jt-realmuto/$153M and the CBT for 2021 is $210M. McCann adds ~$10M to that, so ~$163M, leaving $47M before they hit the threshold. Plenty to play with, and going over for the first year wouldn't hurt the Mets or Cohen at all. But the dream sweep of Springer/Bauer surely puts them over and then "hi, welcome back, Cano" in 2022 and a new CBA (with potentially new tax penalties) makes for what could be some gnarly financial books. Sure, Cohen can afford it, but I'm also sure he doesn't want to give away truckloads of money in taxes if thinks he can win at the top of the CBT threshold and invest elsewhere.



/ducks

[G-Fafif]

[A Boy Named Seo]

#intangibles



He's got it all, I tell ya

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: As I suspected was most likely, timing was the major factor in the McCann signing. We had "great conversations" [with Realmuto's agents] Alderson said on Monday's Zoom call to introduce new GM Jared Porter ... “more than anything else, this was a timing issue for us,'' “We have a number of needs. We can afford to wait to fill some of them. We can't afford to wait to fill all of them.” https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/https://nypost.com/2020/12/14/this-is-what-derailed-mets-pursuit-of-j-t-realmuto/

The Mets say "timing" but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So Maybe Realmuto's camp could, just the same, complain about "timing" and the Mets not coming around to Realmuto's number. Or maybe this negotiation had nothing to do with "timing" and everything to do with the Cohen Mets wanting to make a statement and establish that they're not simply going to pay everybody's "ransom" even though they could easily do so.



We might never really know why the Mets signed McCann instead of Realmuto. Grain of salt on this press release.

[ashie62]

I would have thought the White Sox more likely to sign McCann and shop Grandal.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I like this guy so far!



https://scontent.fdet1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/131390635_10157932606663481_4054295566688151247_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=2&_nc_sid=a26aad&_nc_ohc=Jf-xWO-yjikAX9rfLDr&_nc_ht=scontent.fdet1-2.fna&oh=91b476e20c836ee1751fda5ebaa6d631&oe=6006039F>

[Frayed Knot]

The kids call him Jimmy the Saint









Plus a little https://nypost.com/2020/12/19/mets-james-mccann-has-amazing-rags-to-riches-tale/James McCann history for ya.

[Lefty Specialist]

Yeah the Bible verse in his signature gives us an idea what we're in for. He's gonna make Nimmo look like an atheist.



Mark 10:27 And Jesus, looking upon them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”



What he should say is "With more money than God, all things are possible."



If anyone's offended by the blasphemy, you can delete this. But I have a very low tolerance for God-botherers.

[Fman99]

I like that he's excited to wear the colors and help them win. Good on him. Bring us those WORLD SERIES TITTIES or whatever he said.

[nymr83]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Yeah the Bible verse in his signature gives us an idea what we're in for. He's gonna make Nimmo look like an atheist. Mark 10:27 And Jesus, looking upon them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.” What he should say is "With more money than God, all things are possible." If anyone's offended by the blasphemy, you can delete this. But I have a very low tolerance for God-botherers.

I'm not Christian and don't know the 'new testament' from a hole in the wall so maybe i'm missing something - is there something particularly offensive about that quote? like is that one of the ones used to justify hating gay people? if not, wtf is your issue?

[Edgy MD]

I'm not Christian and don't know the 'new testament' from a hole in the wall so maybe i'm missing something - is there something particularly offensive about that quote? like is that one of the ones used to justify hating gay people? if not, wtf is your issue?

Incredible. See if you can guess which is which. (Nobody help him.)



[FIMG=300]https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/styles/content-885x432/public/news/news/codexz.jpg?itok=VVF-iB5q[/FIMG] [fimg=195]https://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/images/small-wall-hole.jpg[/fimg]

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm just hoping he's better than Brian Schneider, who said all the right things at his arrival, had an even better rep for staff-handling, runner-throwing-outing, and pitch-framing.



Oh yes I said staff handling

[kcmets]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Oh yes I said staff handling

If we're going biblical, here's one from The Book of Psalms:



"thy rod and thy staff-handling -- they comfort me"

[bmfc1]

I looked up McCann and Nido on Fangraphs. As suggested elsewhere, McCann's D is decent, with 4.8 defensive WAR.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/james-mccann/12859/stats?position=Chttps://www.fangraphs.com/players/james-mccann/12859/stats?position=C

The Mets snapped him up right quick so they wouldn't lose out on a FA C (perhaps they heard that Realmuto didn't want to be a Met or they wanted to save $ for Springer/Bauer or they wanted to make an early splash or they wanted to set the market or Sandy is bad at his job) and if they didn't get McCann they didn't want to be stuck with Nido. Except, per these numbers, they just paid much, much more for someone similar to Nido:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/tomas-nido/13755/stats?position=Chttps://www.fangraphs.com/players/tomas-nido/13755/stats?position=C

McCann: Offense -12.1, Defense + 4.8, Overall +0.5

Nido: Offense -8, Defense +11.4, Overall +0.8

[MFS62]

Baseball reference gives Nido a +0.8 dWAR.



Later