Chicago White Sox: Three options for James McCann
The Chicago White Sox acquisition of Yasmani Grandal is a big deal for the franchise. The move does leave James McCann‘s future with the team in question, though.
Currently, the team has five catchers on the 40-man roster. Aside from McCann and Grandal, the team also has Zack Collins, Yermin Mercedes, and Seby Zavala.
McCann, 29, had the best offensive season of his career in 2019 in which he hit .273/.328/.460 with 18 home runs and 60 RBI to give himself a 109 OPS+. He also made his first career All-Star game.
The White Sox have been very active this offseason and with more moves to be made, it remains to be seen what the acquisition of Yasmani Grandal will actually mean for McCann and his future with the team.
As of now, McCann has one more year of team control before he would become a free agent after the 2020 season.
This will be his last season of arbitration, although, he will hit the open market for the second time in his career.
After the 2018 season, the Detroit Tigers non-tender McCann which resulted in the White Sox signing him to a one-year. $2.5 million contract to start at catcher for them in 2019.
I believe that the White Sox have three legitimate options to consider when it comes to McCann going forward this offseason.
1. Keep McCann as a Backup
So, the first idea for James McCann‘s future with the organization would be to keep him as the team’s backup catcher.
By doing so, the White Sox would have a strong backup catcher for Yasmani Grandal, who with the quality of his bat, definitely could use some rest from time-to-time as the team’s DH or first baseman.
Zack Collins is another option to serve as the team’s backup catcher in 2020, but he had a lowly .656 OPS over 27 games this past season.
That makes him a relative unknown while Yemin Mercedes and Seby Zavala have a combined total of five games played at the major league level.
With all three options not appearing to be slam dunks, keeping McCann with the team would ensure that Grandal has a serviceable backup in case of injury.
However, Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors projects McCann to receive $4.9 million in his last year of arbitration which might be a little pricey for a backup catcher.
Is it insanely expensive? Absolutely not, and the only reason that getting rid of McCann as the backup would make sense is if they plan on going with an internal option.
Otherwise, they would likely reinvest a significant portion of that money in another backup catcher.
2. Use McCann as the Team’s DH
Yasmani Grandal is going to get the lion’s share of the playing time at the catcher position and there is zero debate to be had about that.
While James McCann’s previous position is now out of the question, the White Sox could use him as their DH in 2020.
It actually could be a pretty effective situation for the team too. As of now, the team doesn’t really have a true option to start at DH.
By keeping McCann slotted in at that position, it could allow the team to mix and match in that spot and not have anyone locked in at that spot.
For example, had the White Sox been able to get J.D. Martinez this offseason, they would’ve been committing the DH spot to Martinez for however many years they agreed to with him.
However, McCann provides the team with the ability to give players, Jose Abreu and Yasmani Grandal in particular, rest at the DH position with McCann able to slide behind the plate on a whim.
On days Abreu needs rest, Grandal could move to first base, McCann could move behind the plate, and Abreu could DH.
McCann’s offense is a question mark long-term, though, as he’s only had an OPS over .700 twice in his career and his .359 BABIP in 2019 (FanGraphs) would suggest he’s due for regression.
And if you don’t believe it based off that stat alone, look no further than his first and second half splits.
Prior to the All-Star break, McCann had a .873 OPS while after the break, his OPS dipped almost .200 points to .694.
That being said, McCann is not necessarily doomed and a revolving DH spot between McCann, Grandal, and Abreu could work.
3. Trade McCann
Realistically, this is the option that makes the most sense as there was a reason the White Sox pursued a catcher this offseason in the first place.
As can be seen on Baseball Prospectus, McCann ranked 104th out of 113 catchers in framing runs (-8.0) and 107th in FRAA (-10.2). With those numbers, the team arguably shouldn’t want him behind the plate at any point in 2020.
On top of it, the team has five catchers on the 40-man roster currently which is unnecessary and with a catcher like Grandal, there won’t be many extra games for other catchers to get playing time anyways.
Taking a risk on someone like Zack Collins behind the dish might be worthwhile as it would allow the team to save an extra $4-$5 million for their backup catcher and instead use it to add a reliever or something else.
The good thing about McCann is he probably played well enough in 2019 that he could net the White Sox a useful piece in return, whether it be someone to help fill a hole on the major league roster or a mid-level prospect.
Three Reasons To Trade James McCann. light. Related Story
James McCann isn’t going to help the White Sox acquire a star, but he probably has more value to another team at this point.