James McCann traded to the Orioles

In a move that seemed inevitable for a number of reasons, the Mets traded James McCann to the Orioles tonight in exchange for a player to be named later. The Mets will reportedly pay $19 million of McCann’s remaining $24.3 remaining on his contract, and the PTBNL is not expected to be a significant prospect, according to Mark Feinsand.

McCann, signed to a four-year, $40.6 million contract in December of 2020, with the Mets prioritizing McCann over J.T. Realmuto, who would sign with the Phillies for 6 years, $125 million approximately a month later. The deal was signed after McCann had a career offensive year with the White Sox, delivering two straight seasons of over 100 OPS+ seasons. To date, these would be the only two such seasons of his career.

After a healthy but ineffective 2021, McCann missed significant time in 2022, and was an incredibly ineffective hitter when he was healthy, batting .195/.257/.282, good for a -.01 bWAR on the season.

With the top catching - and possibly overall - prospect in baseball in Francisco Álvarez, a perfectly cromulent backup catcher in Tomás Nido, and the recently signed Omar Narváez all on the roster, McCann’s days as a Met were all but over.

Fare thee well, McCannon.