Ranking the 10 worst contracts in the National League East

5) Worst contracts in the NL East: James McCann

With an owner willing to spend money the way Steve Cohen has shown he's willing to, there are bound to be bad contracts. James McCann is one of them.

In the 2020-21 offseason the Mets needed a catcher desperately. The two targets they had to choose between were James McCann and J.T. Realmuto. McCann was the far cheaper option and with Francisco Alvarez coming in the future, it did make some sense to choose McCann and spend more money elsewhere.

However, I don't think the Mets assumed McCann's bat would fall off as much as it has since signing in New York.

The 32-year-old had just a .643 OPS last season followed by an even worse .495 OPS this season. His 41 OPS+ forced the Mets to strongly consider trading for a catcher like Willson Contreras at the deadline because the McCann/Nido combination is a disaster offensively.

McCann signed a four-year $40 million dollar deal prior to the 2021 campaign following an all-star appearance in 2019 and a really solid season in 2020. With Francisco Alvarez potentially coming up this season and most definitely next season, that contract is not a good one by any means. McCann is already a part-time player splitting time with Nido this season and would get even less playing time if the Mets kept him in the future.

I personally think Nido is the perfect backup catcher and expect McCann to be dealt with a prospect or released when Alvarez is ready.

McCann has saved the contract somewhat by playing really solid defense behind the plate but the Mets signed him thinking his bat would be serviceable at the very least and it's been nothing close to that. The Mets thinking of upgrades less than two seasons into his deal shows how bad it is.