All the latest news and rumors regarding the Houston Astros and from around MLB – it’s all in here! Today’s offseason Crawfish Boil for December 22, 2025:
- The Mets are sending 2B/OF Jeff McNeil to the Athletics:
The Mets will receive 17-year-old minor league pitcher Yordan Rodriguez. Mets will also pay $5.75M of the $15.75M salary McNeil is due and will pay his $2M buyout if his option doesn’t get picked up.
McNeil, who will turn 34 on April 8, is a former batting champ and a two-time All-Star. After back-to-back subpar seasons, the Mets have been looking for a taker for McNeil. McNeil batted .243 last season with a .335 OBP and .746 OPS. He finished last season with 12 HR, 54 RBI, 42 R, 21 2B in 399 AB.
Francys Romero reports the Mets are in talks with the Diamondbacks for 2B Ketel Marte. Marte is a terrific player who had some strange clubhouse issues last season, and that has the DBacks looking to move him this offseason. While the team’s reported stance is they want a strong return for him, the longer it drags on the lesser the return is likely to be unless the team accepts the idea of holding him into the season. With the team’s stance on trading him all offseason because of clubhouse dynamics, it will get very weird if they keep him into the season. With that in mind, it seems the DBacks should be sufficiently motivated to move him soon for the best return they can get.
- The Cardinals and the Red Sox are trading yet again.
The Red Sox making a move for a 1B indicates that at best, they don’t think Triston Casas will be ready to play the field to start the season after recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon. At worst, Casas has likely played his last game in a Red Sox uniform and the team will look to move him. Casas does have options remaining but optioning him could irreparably damage the relationship between the team and the player, if the team cares about that.
Casas did show a season and a half of .800+ OPS before struggling through a month of games last year before the patellar rupture.
Contreras, who will be 34 in May, made the full-time transition to 1B last season and flourished offensively and defensively. Contreras had another strong season at the plate, hitting .257 with a .344 OBP and ,791 OPS (good enough for a 123 OPS+). It was Contreras’ 4th straight season with an OPS+ over 120. Contreras’ experience as a long time catcher could also help in the catcher room, and he has stated he would like to catch again at least occasionally.
Where does this move leave the Red Sox?
According to Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, re-signing 3B Alex Bregman is still a priority. For a team that has had poor defensive infields the last several years, having Bregman and Contreras man the corners is a good start to turning that around. They are also still in the mix on Bo Bichette, who could play 2B for the Red Sox, as well as staying in the conversation with the Astros on 3B Isaac Paredes and DBacks 2B Ketel Marte.
Meanwhile Ken Rosenthal thinks the Red Sox should be all-in on Bregman:
- Pete Alonso wants to play for Team USA.
- New White Sox’ slugger Munetaka Murakami has jokes:
- Want to trade for a controllable starter? It’s going to cost you big. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic says its a seller’s market for controllable starting pitchers:
- Will Sammon of The Athletic thinks the Mets should go all-in on OF/1B Cody Bellinger:
- IF/OF Rob Refsnyder is signing in Seattle:
The soon-to-be 35-year-old Refsnyder has created a role for himself as a very good RH side platoon player who rakes LHP.
