What should the Sox do with James McCann?

[pcq]

Mazara is in a rut but deserves a chance. He might be a head case. I expect the market will be dead this fall waiting to see how Covid progresses. We might find out if teams are really broke like the boss says. 

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

16 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

You love SSS, and hate defense, line up balance and OBP. 

I hate defense? How so? Mazara isn’t a gold glover in RF. And you keep talking like Castellanos is some slouch at the plate because he has a “low” ~345ish OBP over the last 2+ seasons (not a SSS) and refuse to acknowledge a 130 wRC+ bat in RF would do wonders for this team.

[nitetrain8601]

I would keep him to be honest. Grandal is the type of guy who needs to DH and play 1B (been this way since he's been with the Dodgers). Let go of the Nomar and EE projects.

[nitetrain8601]

1 hour ago, Two-Gun Pete said:

If you're worried about one guy out of 28 being a "cancer," then I submit that your leadership are incompetent. As an aside, both Abreu and Grandal have vouched for him.

 

I'm not concerned about the offense, because it's been fine, even with Mazara in it. I'm concerned that the outfield defense has blundered its way into surrendering 2 inside the park HRs already. Pretty much all of the recent WS winning teams catch the ball in the OF.

 

It doesn't matter, though. Mazara will be here, because of KW's/RH's egos. And speeding tickets.

I agree. This team is having fun. It is the exact environment that Puig would thrive in. As your 6th hitter, you could do a lot worse. 

[pcq]

1 hour ago, nitetrain8601 said:

I agree. This team is having fun. It is the exact environment that Puig would thrive in. As your 6th hitter, you could do a lot worse. 

I think Abreu and Grandal would keep Puig in line. Might not be a Sox thing to do but I would load the bus with Cubans and let them play. I've been on the Cuban bus for years. I would exploit that identity instead of being in an anonymous market with little flair except for TA. TA figures to get some MVP love this year. 

1 hour ago, nitetrain8601 said:

I agree. This team is having fun. It is the exact environment that Puig would thrive in. As your 6th hitter, you could do a lot worse. 

22 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Have you seen what the Sox are running out in RF? And this team is still short on starting pitching. Ultimately, starting pitching wins in the playoffs and right now the Sox are barely scrapping together 3 quality starters on a consistent basis

[southsider2k5]

8 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Puig is not the answer.  This offense is rolling right now and there is no need to introduce that cancer into the mix.  Plus he had COVID so who knows what kind of physical shape he’s in as some guys have claimed they’ve had lingering issues affect their performance this year.

The fun part is Puig and Mazara put up almost identical ops last year.

[black jack]

I'd try to extend him.

Remember back when the plan was to have a rotating DH between players that could actually play defense?

It ended poorly because they didn't have enough good players.

 

Rotate DH, 1st base, and catcher between Abreu, Grandal, and McCann.

 

Any chance Vaughn can play right field? 

[caulfield12]

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

The fun part is Puig and Mazara put up almost identical ops last year.

Even if we ignore the first two years of Puig like they never existed and focus on the last 5, you still get 8.4/5=1.7 fWAR      Tack on 9.4, you get 17.8 or almost 18 for his career since 2013.

That's pretty comparable to what we would expect out of Avi Garcia (playing RF and not CF), for what it's worth.

 

Mazara gives you that SAME 1.7 fWAR, but the caveat is that it's for FOUR PLUS years.  Aka, his entire MLB career.

[Dominikk85]

Yeah grandal should play most of the time. 

 

However I think for the long term outlook it should be better like 120-130 games and not 140-150. 

Give him a couple games at DH too to get him some extra games in the lineup.

[GreenSox]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:52 AM, southsider2k5 said:

5 weeks of James McCann isn't going to get you a "young starter" unless you mean a very low level minor league starter that isn't very highly ranked.

Then obviously don't trade him if you get very little in return.

[Vote4Pedro]

I know it won’t happen but resign the damn guy 

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:27 PM, southsider2k5 said:

That is waaaay to simplistic.

But is it?

[turnin' two]

8 minutes ago, Tony said:

Stone just said on the postgame in all his years in baseball, he’s never seen a pitcher and catcher share the same brain like Gio and James. 
 

I’m sorry, I know we are all emotional after an incredible night, but they need to figure out how to keep this guy around a few more years. 

Yeah. This.  

[YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES!]

I wonder how much it would take to keep McCann around? 30 million? 40 million? Whatever the amount is, the Sox need to do it.

[hi8is]

What should the Sox do with James McCann?

Answer: Make him catch Giolito every 5th game, period.

[poppysox]

On 8/22/2020 at 3:37 PM, black jack said:

I'd try to extend him.

Remember back when the plan was to have a rotating DH between players that could actually play defense?

It ended poorly because they didn't have enough good players.

 

Rotate DH, 1st base, and catcher between Abreu, Grandal, and McCann.

 

Any chance Vaughn can play right field? 

I agree!  Seems kind of obvious doesn't it?

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

1 hour ago, poppysox said:

I agree!  Seems kind of obvious doesn't it?

You were the first on it and I completely agreed with you last season.

 

[Quin]

Quote

When Giolito was struggling in 2018, so was McCann, through a career-worst season in Detroit, ultimately being non-tendered by the franchise that once saw him as a cornerstone. They remade their careers as partners — to the point that the one time Giolito shook off McCann on Tuesday, it rattled McCann more than his mounting dread in the ninth, as he envisioned the no-hitter he lost two outs shy of with Justin Verlander in 2015.

“That trust that we’ve had, I don’t know if I’ve ever had that with another pitcher in my career,” McCann said.

https://theathletic.com/2023401/2020/08/26/white-sox-lucas-giolitos-transformation-grows-more-incredible-with-a-no-hitter/?source=dailyemail

This is the best/worst conundrum

[poppysox]

2 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

You were the first on it and I completely agreed with you last season.

 

Wow!  You have quite a good memory.?

[WilliamTell]

I assume McCann loves being here, try to sign him to a 2-3 year deal. Let him catch Giolito every fifth game at least. Don't bring back Encarnacion next year so that leaves the DH spot open to a combination of McCann, Grandal, Abreu, and Jimenez. It's possible to have Grandal play 140 games and McCann play 100+ games in a season when using the DH.

Let Abreu DH once a week, let Eloy DH once in a while, and roll with the Grandal/McCann combo as your catcher/DH. Would mean we'd need to keep a third catcher on the staff though!

[chitown87]

4 minutes ago, WilliamTell said:

I assume McCann loves being here, try to sign him to a 2-3 year deal. Let him catch Giolito every fifth game at least. Don't bring back Encarnacion next year so that leaves the DH spot open to a combination of McCann, Grandal, Abreu, and Jimenez. It's possible to have Grandal play 140 games and McCann play 100+ games in a season when using the DH.

Let Abreu DH once a week, let Eloy DH once in a while, and roll with the Grandal/McCann combo as your catcher/DH. Would mean we'd need to keep a third catcher on the staff though!

That blocks Vaughn, though. What do you do with him? I would think he'd be up next year, but maybe I'm off on that.

[pcq]

3 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

You were the first on it and I completely agreed with you last season.

 

Keep in mind we need two good catchers not one. Also looking for RF and SP. What is best use of resources and a likely depressed market. 

[EloyJenkins]

1 hour ago, chitown87 said:

That blocks Vaughn, though. What do you do with him? I would think he'd be up next year, but maybe I'm off on that.

That is the catch 22 here. You resign McCann...Vaughn is getting traded people. Simple as that. Eloy is moving to DH by 2023 at the very latest, and with Grandal, Abreu, McCann and Eloy all vying for 2 future positions, that just doesn't leave space for Vaughn. EE is gone after this season no matter what. 

[Pants Rowland]

Sorry to be lazy and not read the whole thread, but is there any thought to the value of Grandal's contract in the offseason trade market?

He is perceived as an elite player and the sample size with the Sox is still very small, but if you agree Collins is a serviceable backup and McCann wants to stay if he gets 80% of the starts, couldn't Grandal possibly net you even more depth in bigger areas of need?

I know teams don't like the reputation of signing contracts and then dumping players, but this might be an instance where it makes some sense. Thoughts? 

[SonofaRoache]

13 hours ago, YouCanPutItOnTheBoardYES! said:

I wonder how much it would take to keep McCann around? 30 million? 40 million? Whatever the amount is, the Sox need to do it.

James best offer will probably be 3yrs 27 million.