3 potential James McCann trade destinations

2) Why the NY Mets can trade James McCann to the Cubs

Speaking of the Cubs, if Willson Contreras isn’t coming back, they could be in the market for a catcher. Yan Gomes remains under contract as one option. They could always look to pair him with McCann for a duo behind the plate.

The Cubs have already moved on from many of their players on big league contracts. Kyle Hendricks would make sense for the Mets but not so much for Chicago. He is owed only $14 million more in 2023 and would be far more likely to have a good year than McCann given the track record of each. We’d have to eliminate that kind of swap.

A trade with the Cubs involving McCann wouldn’t be a swap of bad deals. Instead, the Mets would have to eat a portion of his salary.

In the past, the Cubs have been one of the trade destinations for Dominic Smith. Maybe both could end up in Chicago for a couple of lottery ticket prospects. No two players may have less trade value at the moment than McCann and Smith. It’s the kind of minor move a team like the Cubs should think about making. If even one of them performs better, they would probably be the victors of the transaction.