Seattle Mariners Busy Day 1 of Mock Off-Season

Daniel Vogelbach to Detroit Tigers for James McCann

Sigh. Yes I know, our large, adult son is moving on. But when you want to spend an off-season getting more flexible, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to stick with a player like Vogelbach. With no options remaining, Vogey has to make the big club out of free agency, or he will be lost to the waiver system.

As you might imagine, the market for Vogelbach wasn’t robust (no pun intended) a few teams had openings at first base or DH who could afford to give Vogelbach 500 PAs without issue. Enter the Detroit Tigers.

As you may recall, we were forced to take the roster after the real Mariners traded Mike Zunino, so our catching depth took quite a hit. We still need to supplement the position, but James McCann is a decent start.

McCann is making a bit of money and coming off a terrible 2018 season. He is, however, just one year removed from a year where he posted a 95 wRC+. McCann grades as a solid-average or better defender, and does have some pop in the bat to make him a threat at the plate.

McCann is 28 and has 2 years of club control remaining. As we said, he probably fits best as a backup, but adding depth to the current group which includes David Frietas and a whole lot of nothing was an opportunity we couldn’t miss.

But who is going to play 1B? Well, we got our answer today.