Catcher James McCann Acquired from Mets

[Just Regular]

I could accept 80 McCann catcher starts only if it was part of a mad science project to alternate Adley between DH and C daily, play him 162, and bat him 725 times.      

At that point the tradeoff would be ~150 extra PA apiece for Adley and McCann, and 300 less for Kyle Stowers or whoever the "starting DH" is.     Hmmm....what are Adley's AL MVP odds today?    I guess baseball can get weird if your catcher is your best hitter.

On the Angelos austerity meter, its another roster spot where ~350% of the MLB minimum AAV has been deployed to push Anthony Bemboom away from the MLB mix.     Bonus for the cash flow if NYM are wiring that $19mm over before Christmas!

 

 

 

[Aristotelian]

2 minutes ago, deward said:

Not who you asked, but I would have gladly beaten the deal Bassitt signed.

Fair enough. I would have been happy with Bassitt as well. I suspect he just wanted to go back to the Mets and took a team friendly deal. I can also see why Elias would not want to go higher on a 34 year old finesse guy so I'm not going to get upset over missing out on that one. 

[Ripken]

2 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Fair enough. I would have been happy with Bassitt as well. I suspect he just wanted to go back to the Mets and took a team friendly deal. I can also see why Elias would not want to go higher on a 34 year old finesse guy so I'm not going to get upset over missing out on that one. 

He signed with Toronto.

[Aristotelian]

7 minutes ago, Ripken said:

He signed with Toronto.

Lol, how did I miss that? I just assumed Cohen bought everyone on the market. 

[owknows]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

Sure but a lineup like that will not happen all that much. If someone like Cordero is on the team he would not play vs LHP. This would be a “Sunday” lineup like Steve alluded to. Not something we would see often.  

Best Barney voice from the Simpsons....

WE WANT KRUNCHY!
WE WANT KRUNCHY!

[Sports Guy]

25 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

I could accept 80 McCann catcher starts only if it was part of a mad science project to alternate Adley between DH and C daily, play him 162, and bat him 725 times.      

At that point the tradeoff would be ~150 extra PA apiece for Adley and McCann, and 300 less for Kyle Stowers or whoever the "starting DH" is.     Hmmm....what are Adley's AL MVP odds today?    I guess baseball can get weird if your catcher is your best hitter.

On the Angelos austerity meter, its another roster spot where ~350% of the MLB minimum AAV has been deployed to push Anthony Bemboom away from the MLB mix.     Bonus for the cash flow if NYM are wiring that $19mm over before Christmas!

 

 

 

We have to get out of this mindset.

Adley’s value is because he’s an elite catcher. He needs to CATCH to have that value. We aren’t talking about a 900-1000 OPS bat in all likelihood. 
 

When you have a great catcher, who can do everything, the plan shouldn’t be to make him a part time DH/first baseman. 

[Just Regular]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

We have to get out of this mindset.

Adley’s value is because he’s an elite catcher. He needs to CATCH to have that value. We aren’t talking about a 900-1000 OPS bat in all likelihood. 
 

When you have a great catcher, who can do everything, the plan shouldn’t be to make him a part time DH/first baseman. 

I agree his defensive value is higher than his offensive value, more having fun with GM cliches and telling players things they like to hear.

Any given team, the backup C is sometimes (often?) the least important of the four bench regulars.     The Orioles have the likeliest best catcher the next couple five years.     The Orioles backup C role is one of the least important in all MLB for the foreseeable future.

I do think if McCann starts good, Elias is going to start Buy Low, Sell High noodling on trading him like Jose Iglesias for Garrett Stallings.    We'll see how Ardoin and Handley do.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Adley Rules:

-One day completely off per week, whether by travel or sitting a game (but can still pinch hit).

-One game DHing per week.

-Never catching more than 3 consecutive games.

-Never catching a day game after a night game that he caught in.

I think that’s roughly what they did last season. How many games per year does that end up with him catching vs. DHing?

 

[Sports Guy]

16 minutes ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Adley Rules:

-One day completely off per week, whether by travel or sitting a game (but can still pinch hit).

-One game DHing per week.

-Never catching more than 3 consecutive games.

-Never catching a day game after a night game that he caught in.

I think that’s roughly what they did last season. How many games per year does that end up with him catching vs. DHing?

 

He should catch 115-125 games, DH another 20-30 games and sit 15-20 games.  Basically he should start 140-145 games and around 80% of those starts, give or take, should be at C.

Obviously injuries can alter this but that should be the plan.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

47 minutes ago, owknows said:

Best Barney voice from the Simpsons....

WE WANT KRUNCHY!
WE WANT KRUNCHY!

 

[jabba72]

40 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

We have to get out of this mindset.

Adley’s value is because he’s an elite catcher. He needs to CATCH to have that value. We aren’t talking about a 900-1000 OPS bat in all likelihood. 
 

When you have a great catcher, who can do everything, the plan shouldn’t be to make him a part time DH/first baseman. 

Adley was easily our best hitter this year, so he still brings value even at DH or 1B. 

The more games at Catcher the greater likelihood his bat suffers, IMO.

 I think 100 games is probably enough workload, especially if his bat improves.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, jabba72 said:

Adley was easily our best hitter this year, so he still brings value even at DH or 1B. 

The more games at Catcher the greater likelihood his bat suffers, IMO.

 I think 100 games is probably enough workload, especially if his bat improves.

This is absurd. The best catcher in the sport catch 115+ games in most years. Adley has a ways to go to become Posey (who will be a HOFer) and Posey caught a ton of games and kept his offense up.

We need stop treating Adley like his some little child that can’t handle it. This is what he is. This is his position. His value is that he’s a great catcher. His value isn’t that he’s a very good DH. 
 

[Roll Tide]

6 hours ago, owknows said:

I think you're investing an awful lot of emotional capital in trying to draw a distinction between two barely replacement-level backup catchers.

No …you got me wrong. I’ve watched them get no difference makers because we don’t have any real money. But have wanted 20.5 million on 3 replacement level guys.

[jabba72]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

This is absurd. The best catcher in the sport catch 115+ games in most years. Adley has a ways to go to become Posey (who will be a HOFer) and Posey caught a ton of games and kept his offense up.

We need stop treating Adley like his some little child that can’t handle it. This is what he is. This is his position. His value is that he’s a great catcher. His value isn’t that he’s a very DH. 
 

Posey had just one year with over 120 starts at Catcher, and it was one of his worst seasons with a 115 OPS+. I think there's a direct correlation there. 

[Can_of_corn]

Fangraphs give it a look.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/narvaez-hedges-mccann-latest-catchers-to-find-new-teams/

Quote

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Baltimore intends to use McCann as a backup for Adley Rutschman, as well as a designated hitter and possible first baseman against left-handed pitching.

Anyone who has even casually glanced at McCann’s offensive numbers should be surprised by that statement. He’s been a defense-first catcher since his early prospect days and has recorded only one above-average offensive season. Over the past two years, he has hit .220 with a 73 wRC+. He strikes out a ton, doesn’t hit for much power, and his walk rate is middle-of-the-road on a good day:

Quote

To be fair to the Orioles, McCann does perform much better with the platoon advantage, posting a 110 career wRC+ against southpaws. He struggled against lefties in his injury-shortened 2022 season, but the year before, he finished with a 108 wRC+ against same-handed pitching. That isn’t exceptional — the average right-handed DH has a 114 wRC+ against left-handed pitching over the past five years — but Baltimore would surely be happy with that level of production from its new pickup. As a team, the Orioles hit just .224 with a 90 wRC+ against lefties last season.