What is the story about?
Good
morning and happy holidays. Ho ho ho.
- The Mets traded second baseman and former batting champion Jeff McNeil to Sacramento for 17-year-old right-hander Yordan Rodriguez. The Mets are also sending a chunk of change west to pay part of McNeil’s salary.
- Michael Baumann evaluates what kind of player McNeil still is and how he fits in the Athletics lineup as McNeil as the “Metsodous” continues. (Damn. I wish I’d thought of that word first.)
- Ken Rosenthal looks at where the Mets go next and how a toxic clubhouse seems to be driving these moves. (The Athletic sub. req.) Plus other MLB notes.
- Anthony DiComo writes about where the Mets might go from here.
- Lex Pryor writes that the Mets are seemingly adrift without a plan at the moment.
- At least one of the newest Mets, Jorge Polanco, has said that he’s willing to play first base. The former Mariner and Twin has played one game at first base as a professional, and that was for one pitch.
- The Pirates signed first baseman Ryan O’Hearn to a two-year, $29 mullion deal. It’s the first multiyear free agent acquisition by the Pirates since 2016.
- Meanwhile, the White Sox welcomed Munetaka Murakami to Chicago. Jesse Rogers reports that the White Sox intend to have Murakami play first base and bat in the middle of the order.
- Jon Greenberg argues this is a “win-win” deal of convience for Murakami and the South Siders. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Jake Mintz tries to figure out why the market for Murakami collapsed like it did.
- The White Sox also signed left-handed reliever Sean Newcombe to a one-year, $4.5 million deal.
- Right-hander Genei Sato of Sendai University was expected to be an early first-round pick in the next NPB Draft, has instead, in a shock move, transferred to Penn State and will be eligible for the 2027 MLB Draft.
- Anthony Castrovince looks at how the professional and college games are becoming more alike in recent years.
- Ben Clemens examines the trade that sent first baseman Willson Contreras to the Red Sox.
- Ken Rosenthal writes that the Red Sox have created enough financial flexibility to make a big move and it should be to re-sign Alex Bregman. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Kiley McDaniel ranks the biggest transactions from Christmas week.
- Chad Jennings ranks every team by what they’ve been doing this winter. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Reds ace Hunter Greene says he’s “committed” to Cincinnati and does not want to be traded.
- David Schoenfield lists the top ten “aggrieved” fan bases at the moment.
- Chad Jennings examines why, at age 34, did outfielder Rob Refsnyder just sign the biggest contract of his career.
- Mike Axisa has a holiday gift idea for every MLB team.
- Michael Rothstein talks to jurors in the Tyler Skaggs trial who said the jury was split over how much responsibility to hand to each part.
- After the NFL Kansas City Chiefs announced their move across the border to Kansas, the Royals now have to make a decision about where to locate their new stadium.
- Bradford William Davis reports on a new controversy about MLB standardizing technology across baseball, saying that many teams and companies fear that MLB will pick “winners and losers” among the companies that manufacture that technology.
- Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper announced that he’s going to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Brian Murphy with the story.
- Eric Mullen has the current Team USA roster.
- If you know A League of Their Own, you know that Kit Keller (Lori Petty) has a problem with high fastballs. “Can’t hit ‘em. Can’t lay off ‘em.” Davy Andrews hands out the Kit Keller Award to the player who best exemplifies Kit.
- Brian Murphy re-visits MLB dot com’s pre-season predictions and sees how they did.
- And finally, Will Stern reports on a previously unknown 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card that has come up for auction. The famous card has been in the same family for over a hundred years.
