Re-grading the 4 major NY Mets trades of the offseason

Jeff McNeil to the Athletics: B

Getting the Athletics to pay $10 million of Jeff McNeil’s salary feels criminal. He wouldn’t have gotten nearly that much in free agency. What were the Athletics thinking? Adam Frazier signed a minor league deal. Willi Castro went to the Colorado Rockies for $12.8 million on a two-year deal. Is playing in Sacramento really that bad?

McNeil is probably the type of player who’ll put together an awesome year with the Athletics only to get traded at the deadline and hit a powerless .230 in the final two months of the year. Because the Athletics aren’t an attractive destination at the moment, they might’ve felt the need to take on more McNeil salary than anyone else would’ve been asked.

The Mets did get a teenage pitching prospect in the deal. Yordan Rodriguez comes to the Mets as a low-level flier worth taking. It’s much better than the alternative of a fringe major leaguer who’ll play a small role.

The goal with trading McNeil was largely to clear up the salary and roster space. The Mets have it in their minds Brett Baty can do a lot of the same things McNeil did and with a higher upside, lower salary, and ability to perform at greater positions of need like third base. Possible locker room issues only add to the club’s need to move on. We may never know the full extent of how ugly things were behind the scenes. Everyone seems to dance around the specifics.

This trade can’t grade out any worse because moving on from McNeil was a necessity. It’ll get better if the Mets are proven right with a down year by McNeil or Rodriguez turning out to be anything at all in the majors.