Athletics Acquire Jeff McNeil

The Mets have traded infielder/outfielder Jeff McNeil to the Athletics along with cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The Mets receive right-hander Yordan Rodriguez in return. The A’s designated left-hander Ken Waldichuk for assignment to open a 40-man spot, which you can read more about here. New York is reportedly sending $5.75MM to cover part of McNeil’s $15.75MM salary in 2026 and will cover the $2MM buyout on McNeil’s $15.75MM club option for 2027 if the A’s don’t pick it up.

Once again, the Mets are moving on from a long-tenured player as they overhaul their roster this offseason. They traded Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers last month. In recent weeks, Pete Alonso signed with the Orioles and Edwin Díaz with the Dodgers. Díaz was acquired by the Mets in a trade ahead of the 2019 season. Nimmo, Alonso and McNeil were all drafted by the Mets, Nimmo back in 2011, McNeil in 2013 and Alonso in 2016.

McNeil debuted in the big leagues in 2018 and played in eight different seasons as a Met. Through the 2022 campaign, McNeil had appeared in 516 games, stepping to the plate 2,039 times. He established himself as one of the hitters most likely to put the ball in play. His 6.8% walk rate was a bit lower than league average while his 11.9% strikeout rate was barely half of par. He showed a bit of pop with 46 home runs in that span, though 23 of those were in the 2019 juiced-ball season. Put it all together and McNeil slashed .307/.370/.458 for a 130 wRC+ over those five seasons, indicating he had been 30% better than league average on the whole.

In addition to his skills at the plate, he swiped a few bags and provided the Mets with a good amount of defensive versatility. He spent most of his time at second base but also appeared at third base and the outfield corners, generally getting good marks for his glovework. FanGraphs credited him with 15.3 wins above replacement in that span.

Going into 2023, the Mets signed him to a four-year, $50MM contract extension, just ahead of his age-31 season. That deal hasn’t been a disaster but McNeil’s production has declined since then. Up until he signed that pact, he had a .332 batting average on balls in play. That’s roughly 40 points better than typical league averages, a tremendous boost for a guy who puts the ball in play so often. But in the past three seasons, his BABIP has been just .269, which has led to a .253/.326/.389 line and 102 wRC+. Thanks to his glovework, he’s still been worth about two fWAR per year over the course of his extension so far.

The infield picture in Queens has become jumbled in recent years. Francisco Lindor has been a mainstay at shortstop since 2021. McNeil has been at second a lot but has also been moved around as the Mets have tried to find time for a crop of younger infielders consisting of Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña.

As those players have been earning more playing time, to varying degrees, trade rumors around McNeil have picked up. The Mets further loaded up the infield by acquiring second baseman Marcus Semien from the Rangers as the return in the Nimmo trade.

McNeil’s defensive versatility meant the Semien trade didn’t completely kick him out the door but it was perhaps telling that the Mets acquired one of the most reliable, everyday guys to cover the position McNeil has played most often. Since McNeil will turn 34 years old in April and has just one guaranteed year remaining on his contract, a deal did feel likely. The Jorge Polanco signing added even another layer. He is expected to primarily play first base and serve as the designated hitter but some time at second or third base is possible as well.

The trade possibility was complicated by the fact that McNeil’s health is at least somewhat in question. It was reported in November that McNeil underwent a thoracic outlet procedure at the end of the 2025 campaign. His agent characterized the procedure as minor and said the expectation would be for McNeil to be back to normal in time to be a full participant in spring training.

The procedure doesn’t seem to have dissuaded the A’s, who have been looking for upgrades at the second and/or third base positions. The A’s have been rebuilding for a while and have had a lot of success at developing their young position player prospects. They have almost a full lineup of controllable players but they came into this offseason with some room to add on the infield. Jacob Wilson is the club’s shortstop and Nick Kurtz the first baseman, but the other two spots were wide open.

Zack Gelof flashed some home run pop when he debuted in 2023 but his strikeout problems have worsened since then and he was injured for most of 2025. Various other young players have received sporadic auditions while veterans like Luis Urías and Aledmys Díaz have also floated through.

McNeil will likely be the club’s regular second baseman in the upcoming season but his flexibility also allows them to pivot as things develop. Wilson is not an especially strong defender at shortstop, so he could end up pushed to second or third. He will probably stick at short for the time being but prospect Leo De Vries, acquired in the Mason Miller trade, is looming. He’s only 19 years old but he is one of the best prospects in the league and has already played in 21 Double-A games.

Wilson’s arm strength was ranked by Statcast in the 80th percentile this year, so handling the hot corner is a possibility, though the A’s might prefer to have him stick up the middle. As they sort that out, guys like Max Muncy, Darell Hernaiz, Max Schuemann, Brett Harris and Gelof will be trying to earn playing time as well. Injuries and further acquisitions will inevitably change the situation but McNeil can move around as circumstances dictate. He even played a bit of center field this year, so he can give the A’s some coverage for Denzel Clarke, who is an elite fielder but questionable hitter.

The A’s could have turned to the free agent market and tried to do so. They reportedly offered Ha-Seong Kim $48MM on a four-year deal, which works out to $12MM per year. Instead, Kim decided to bet on himself with a one-year, $20MM deal with Atlanta, as he will hope to return to free agency with a better platform.

Once Kim was gone, the A’s weren’t left with amazing options. Bo Bichette is still out there but the A’s are not going to meet his asking price and he wouldn’t want to play in a minor league park even if they did. Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suárez shouldn’t be quite as expensive as Bichette but those situations would be somewhat comparable. Below that tier, the top free agents are utility types like Ramón Urías, Willi Castro and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

McNeil has a better track record than those guys and isn’t prohibitively expensive. Since the Mets are covering $5.75MM of his salary in 2026, the A’s will only have to pay him $10MM, a bit less than they were willing to pay Kim annually. If McNeil has a good year, they can pick up his $15.75MM club option for 2027 but they can also walk away for nothing since the Mets have agreed to cover his buyout.

RosterResource estimates that the A’s are slated to spend $87MM on next year’s club. It’s unclear where they want the budget to be but that’s already $8MM higher than last year. They could still use some pitching but it’s unclear how much more they are willing to spend.

The A’s are also parting with a lottery ticket prospect. Rodriguez is a Cuban righty who just signed with the A’s this year for a $400K bonus. He tossed 15 1/3 innings in the Dominican Summer League with 20 strikeouts but eight walks and two wild pitches. He’s still only 17 years old, turning 18 in January, and isn’t properly on the prospect radar yet. Baseball America says he was not going to be one of the Athletics’ top 30 prospects for the upcoming year. If he’s ultimately able to contribute anything for the Mets, it won’t be for quite some time.

The Mets will take the flier on Rodriguez and see if they can cash him in later. For now, it’s about moving some money off the payroll and likely opening themselves up for further transactions. It’s unclear what their next moves will be but an outfield acquisition feels inevitable after sending out both Nimmo and McNeil. Vientos, Polanco and Baty are projected to share the infield corners and the DH spot unless the Mets shake things up with an external addition. Further moves on the pitching side are surely forthcoming.

Time will tell how it all plays out but it’s the latest sign that there’s a changing of the guard taking place in Queens. Semien isn’t a young player but he’s only signed for three years as opposed to Nimmo’s five, so that move was at least somewhat about avoiding long-term commitments to aging guys. Letting Díaz and Alonso walk while trading McNeil could also be moves about preventing the club from getting too old. The Mets are looking for rotation help but reportedly don’t want to commit to top free agents on lengthy deals.

Owner Steve Cohen has an almost unmatched willingness to spend but that led to inconsistent results in the first few years of his regime. He presumably brought in president of baseball operations David Stearns to make the tough, analytical decisions about how to use the resources. So far, the results under Stearns have also been uneven but it’s only been two seasons.

Clearly, there’s a desire to avoid long-term pitfalls. Apart from the Juan Soto deal, which was an exceptional situation due to his youth, Stearns hasn’t signed a contract longer than three years with the Mets. He has let fan favorites walk away in free agency and has also sent them packing himself. The fan base doesn’t appear too happy at the moment, especially after the disappointing 2025 campaign, so it will have to work out in the long run for Stearns to win them back.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the details of the trade. Photos courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Jasen Vinlove, Imagn Images