Catcher James McCann will, according to multiple reports, be joining the Chicago White Sox organization.
According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, catcher James McCann who was non-tendered by the Detroit Tigers on November 30, has agreed to terms with the Chicago White Sox. MLB.com’s Jason Beck also confirmed the signing, while Jon Heyman of Fancred and MLB Network added that the deal will be worth $2.5 million.
McCann, 28, has spent his entire major-league career with the Tigers, after being initially drafted in the second round of the 2011 draft, the same round as Nick Ahmed of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Josh Bell of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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In 118 games for the Tigers in 2018, the native of Santa Barbara, California slashed .220/.267/.314 in 457 plate appearences and added eight home runs, 39 RBI, 16 doubles, and 31 runs scored. The 118 games played is a career high for McCann, who has been in the major leagues since the end of 2014.
A career .240 hitter, McCann will now join an exciting Chicago White Sox team that is quietly, yet aggresively, acquiring assets that could be useful in 2019 and beyond. Recently, they’ve acquired reliever Alex Colome, starter Ivan Nova, and have reportedly acquired Yonder Alonso from the division rival Cleveland Indians.
This past season, the White Sox finished fourth in the American League Central with a record of 62-100, just two games behind the Tigers, 13 games behind the Minnesota Twins and 29 games behind the leading Cleveland Indians.
At this point, it remains to be seen just what exactly McCann’s role on the Chicago White Sox will be going forward. As of this writing, the deal is not official, with the aforementioned reports cautioning that while the deal is agreed upon, it is pending a physical.