Mets trade James McCann to Orioles as Cohen saves (barely) instead of spending

The Mets have been searching for a James McCann trade partner to shed salary and they found one on Wednesday, making a deal with the Orioles. 

Steve Cohen’s checkbook probably still has smoke emanating from it after this offseason for the New York Mets. Carlos Correa getting sniped from the Giants at the 11th hour early on Wednesday morning was the latest big-money move for the franchise that already landed Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana while re-signing Edwin Díaz, Brandon Nimmo and Adam Ottavino.

But now it looks like Cohen is finally making a move to save money that he and the front office have been looking for all offseason by trading catcher James McCann.

As reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Mets are trading McCann to the Baltimore Orioles as New York remains exceptionally active.

James McCann trade details: Mets deal catcher to Orioles to shed salary

Here’s a look at the trade given what we currently know.

Per MLB Network’s Mark Feinsand, the move will save the Mets some money, as they’d been looking to do all offseason by trading McCann. However, it won’t be that much as Steve Cohen will be paying $19 million of the $24 million remaining on the catcher’s contract.

Considering that the team’s luxury tax penalty of roughly $111 million entering the day was more than the payroll of six MLB teams, saving $5 million can’t hurt. And more importantly, it further opens up the lineup for Tomas Nido and others in New York behind the dish.

What’s interesting for the Orioles is what role McCann will play. Adley Rutschman was called up this season and performed phenomenally as a rookie for Baltimore. He’ll almost surely be the everyday catcher for the club moving forward but having McCann will offer some depth and flexibility for a team looking to take another step forward in the 2022 season. Plus, they get McCann on the cheap with the Mets assuming so much of his salary.