Not to spoil James McCann’s arrival in New York, but some executives and agents believe the Mets messed up by not signing JT Realmuto and that Realmuto messed up by not signing with the Mets.
Free agency ebbs and flows, and sometimes a team and a player operate on different timelines, preventing them from queuing. That seems to have happened with the Mets and Realmuto. The Mets wanted to move faster than Realmuto, and when it turned out that no deal could be reached, they instead struck a four-year $ 40.6 million deal with McCann.
Realmuto is believed to be seeking a guarantee of about three times that amount, and the Mets were the team likely to offer that money. The match seemed perfect for the Mets too. Some rival managers consider Realmuto to be the best in its position with the greatest margin of all players in the game.
That point is debatable. McCann, 30, is nine months older than Realmuto, and his track record is not that long …