Detroit Tigers: James McCann to the Nationals?

McCann a good fit for the Nationals

The Nationals won 97 games last season, thanks in no part to their work behind the dish. The majority of the catching was done by veteran Matt Wieters. Wieters was an All-Star catcher for the Orioles not that long ago, but his career has really fallen off a cliff.

He slashed just .225/.288/.344 with 10 home runs and an ugly 62 wRC+ in 2017. His work defensively was poor as well, giving the 31-year-old a -0.2 fWAR on the year.

The backup duties (for now) will go to 24-year-old Pedro Severino. Severino saw 29 at-bats with the team last year, hitting .172 with a 32.3% strikeout rate. He is a strong defensive catcher, but his minor league numbers show he likely won’t hit much in the major leagues.

For a team that is contending for a World Series, shoring up the catcher position is high on their priority list.

They have most recently been connected to Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, who is on the block after the Marlins dealt their entire starting outfield this offseason.

However, MLBTradeRumors broke down a variety of options the Nationals could explore to improve their catching position.

One of those options was trading for McCann.

From the article:

"The rebuilding Tigers don’t seem likely to be competitive in any of the next three seasons, meaning McCann will probably be on the move sooner or later. Though he’s impressive defensively, McCann’s bat has proved below-average across 1,201 big league plate appearances. That could (in theory) make him more affordable than other trade options while still offering an upgrade over Washington’s in-house options."

So what does “more affordable?” mean for the Tigers? Let’s take a dive into Washington’s deep farm system and rustle up some trade ideas.