Reese Kaplan -- Alternatives to Wilson Ramos for 2021?

When the Mets signed Wilson Ramos after failing to trade for J.T. Realmuto or inking premier catcher free agent Yasmani Grandal, most were pretty happy with the deal.  After all, when he stayed healthy, Ramos demonstrated some good power, solid batting average and had no black marks on his record for personal conduct.  The price paid was fair -- $10 million per season -- and for once it looked as if much maligned GM Brodie Van Wagenen had made a solid acquisition.

Now the Mets are a team for whom offense often outweighed defense in many positions and catcher was not an isolated example.  Mike Piazza made it into the Hall of Fame based upon his bat, not his glove nor his throwing arm.  Mackey Sasser was a good hitter.  Todd Hundley did more (with some assistance) than was ever expected.  Gary Carter was probably the best example of hitting and catching, but those types are few and far between.

Pretty quickly after arriving the Buffalo (or La Tortuga) quickly established himself as a hitter and just as swiftly lost his appeal to the pitching staff.  Some of them specifically requested he not be the guy calling the game or defending against potential base stealers.  Ouch. 

This second season of Ramos is more of the same.  His bat is starting to come around but he’s not exactly the top pick of any of the starting pitchers.  You hear less griping about it this year with three starters injured, but the fact is they would rather have a Tomas Nido or even Ali Sanchez back there for the defensive aspects of the game.  

That brings the Mets into an interesting conundrum for the 2021 season.  They have an option to retain Ramos for a $10 million salary, or they could buy him out for $1.5 million and send him on his way.  If this was the Wilpon regime, it would be doubly hard because they don’t like throwing money away on buyouts and the GM wouldn’t like to concede he’d made a bad choice.  I would fully expect him to be retained.

However, it’s entirely possible that there will be a new owner who may, in turn, look to a new GM for 2021 and that could mean it’s time to look at alternatives.  The biggest one out there would be J.T. Realmuto who thus far has been unable to reach an extension with his employer in Philadelphia.  Like Gary Carter, he handles himself well behind the plate and with the bat in his hands. 

Many are predicting he will surpass any previous deals for free agents and at age 30 that season he’s probably looking for a 4-5 year deal to lock up his most productive remaining seasons.  In his last three full seasons in Miami and Philadelphia he’s posted 4.4, 4.5 and 4.5 WAR marks, highly impressive for any position and the top of the class for catchers.  Fully expect him to earn between $120 and $125 million for a free agent contract as the best of the lot. 

A new owner might want to make a splash or Realmuto could simply be considered too risky to make that kind of investment for a body-punishing position like catcher.  

So, if not Realmuto, who else is out there in free agency?  Well, pickings are pretty slim.  Some are too old.  Some are unlikely to reach free agency.  The one name that sticks out big time is White Sox backup catcher James McCann.  After a lackluster career with his bat, in 2019 he put it together big time for the ChiSox with a .273 AVG to go along with 18 HRs and 60 RBIs in 476 ABs. 

It seemed a little odd for Chicago to push him aside to sign Grandal, but now they’re sitting with a pretty prime choice about to hit free agency.  Only one year older than Realmuto, you have McCann earning $5.4 million.  He’s not likely to hit a big payday in free agency and it might be possible to sign him for say 2-3 years around $6 million per season. 

The output in 2019 was a 3.7 WAR rating, so that would be a major bargain at a shorter term of financial responsibility.  He would look like a low cost plan B if they can’t or won’t ink Realmuto or make a trade for someone of his caliber.