Veteran catcher James McCann has acquired provides from no less than 4 groups, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo writes, and the Purple Sox are one of many suitors checking in on the backstop’s companies. McCann has spent the final two seasons with the Orioles, and whereas Baltimore had proven curiosity in a possible reunion, the membership’s current signing of Gary Sanchez probably closes that door.
Sanchez is considered one of many accessible catchers who’ve already discovered new groups, leaving the Sox in a little bit of a scramble to handle the place. Talking with Cotillo and different reporters throughout the Winter Conferences, Purple Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow famous merely that “there have been extra groups in want of catching than there have been accessible catchers. That was the demographic that moved actually, actually shortly.”
Boston’s want is much less obvious than most golf equipment, because the Purple Sox are particularly in search of what Breslow described as “the best complement and proper backup” for Connor Wong. McCann and Wong are each right-handed hitters, although supervisor Alex Cora downplayed hitting stability as much less necessary than robust protection. This won’t ideally match McCann both, as Statcast’s metrics have been significantly down on his total protection in 2024, and somewhat combined normally all through his profession.
A pair of robust seasons with the White Sox in 2019-20 lined McCann as much as rating a four-year, $40.6MM contract from the Mets throughout the 2020-21 offseason. Sadly, McCann’s hitting numbers tumbled within the aftermath of the signing, and the Mets then dealt him to the Orioles in December 2022 with New York consuming the vast majority of McCann’s remaining wage. McCann hit solely .228/.274/.382 in 459 PA and 134 video games with the O’s over the past two seasons, however his skill to deal with a bit greater than only a backup’s share of catching duties allowed Baltimore additional flexibility in preserving Adley Rutschman’s bat within the lineup as a delegated hitter.
