The retooling Mets jettisoned another core player Monday, trading second baseman Jeff McNeil to the Athletics for minor league right-hander Yordan Rodriguez in a deal that left pitcher David Peterson as New York's longest-tenured player.
New York will send up to $7.75 million to the A's to offset some of the $17.75 million remaining on McNeil's $50 million, four-year contract.
McNeil follows Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Edwin Díaz in leaving the underperforming Mets, who failed to reach the playoffs this year despite the second-highest payroll in the majors behind the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
McNeil, who turns 34 in April, was selected by New York in the 12th round of the 2013 amateur draft from Long Beach State and had spent his entire professional career with the organization. He made his Mets debut in 2018 and won the big league batting title with a .326 average in 2022, when he was picked for his second NL All-Star team.
He hit .243 with 12 homers and 54 RBIs in 122 games this year, when he made his season debut on April 25 after recovering from a strained right oblique.
McNeil has a $15.75 million salary next year as part of a deal that includes a $15.75 million team option for 2027 with a $2 million buyout. The Mets will send the A's $5.75 million with another $2 million payment conditionally included if McNeil's option is declined.
Rodriguez, who turns 18 on Jan. 29, signed with the A's for a $400,000 bonus in January and went 2-0 with a 2.93 ERA in one start and seven relief appearances for the Dominican Summer League A's. He struck out 20 and walked eight in 15 1/3 innings.
Peterson made his Mets debut in 2020. If he is traded, New York's longest-tenured player would be shortstop Francisco Lindor, acquired before the 2021 season.
New York has added closer Devin Williams,infielder Jorge Polanco, Gold Glove second baseman Marcus Semien and reliever Luke Weaver this offseason.
To open a roster spot for McNeil, the A’s designated left-hander Ken Waldichuk for assignment.
AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - New York Mets' Jeff McNeil plays during a baseball game Sept. 8, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Initial drafts of U.S. proposals for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia meet many of Kyiv's demands, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, although he suggested that neither side in the almost four-year war is likely to get everything it wants in talks on reaching a settlement.
“Overall, it looks quite solid at this stage,” the Ukrainian leader said of recent talks with U.S. officials who are trying to steer the neighboring countries toward compromises.
“There are some things we are probably not ready for, and I’m sure there are things the Russians are not ready for either,” Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.
U.S. President Donald Trump has for months been pushing for a peace agreement, but the negotiations have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday he held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with Ukrainian and European representatives, though Trump was less effusive the following day, saying, “The talks are going along.”
“We are talking. It's going OK," Trump said Monday while on vacation at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Asked if he planned to speak to Zelenskyy or Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump didn't say, offering only of the fighting, “I'd like to see it stopped.”
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said “nearly 90%” of Ukraine’s demands have been incorporated into the draft agreements.
The backbone of the proposed deal is a 20-point plan, he said. There is also a framework document on security guarantees between Ukraine, European countries, and the United States, as well as a separate document on bilateral security guarantees granted to Ukraine by the U.S.
Zelenskyy mentioned several key points, such as the Ukrainian army remaining at a peacetime level of 800,000; membership in the European Union; and European forces, under the leadership of France and the U.K. and with a “backstop” from Washington, ensuring “Ukraine’s security in the air, on land, and at sea.”
“Some key countries will provide presence in these domains; others will contribute to energy security, finance, bomb shelters, and so on,” the Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine is arguing that the bilateral document with the U.S. should be reviewed by the U.S. Congress, with some details and annexes kept classified, Zelenskyy said.
The U.S. team is now in talks with Russian envoys, and Washington has asked that no details be released, he added.
Zelenskyy said Monday he met with his military commanders who reported that defensive lines are holding firm against the Russian onslaught.
“In (recent) weeks, the Russian army has significantly increased the intensity of attacks, and the number of Russian losses has increased accordingly,” he said in a post on Telegram.
Ukrainian forces hit an oil terminal, a pipeline, two parked jet fighters and two ships in a series of strikes on Russian soil, officials said Monday.
The attacks are part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt the Russian war effort and sow fear behind the front line, where outnumbered Ukrainian troops are straining to hold back Russia’s bigger army.
The strikes also seek to undermine Putin’s attempt to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of military strength in U.S.-led peace efforts, which have yet to make a breakthrough on key points.
The killing of a top Russian general by a car bomb in Moscow on Monday, with investigators suspecting Ukraine was behind it, could be another instance of Kyiv picking surprise targets.
Ukrainian forces struck the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal, an ammunition depot and a launch site for attack drones inside Russian territory and Russian-held Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Monday.
A pipeline, two docks and two ships were damaged in the southern Krasnodar region, and a large blaze broke out, the statement said, without specifying what kind of weapons were used in the attack.
It added that a Ukrainian-made missile also hit a temporary base for Russia's 92nd River Boat Brigade in Olenivka, in the occupied Crimean Peninsula.
A separate strike targeted an ammunition depot in a Russian-controlled portion of the Donetsk region, aiming to slow the Russian advance there, the General Staff said. A Russian launch site for attack drones was also hit.
Ukrainian partisans set fire to two Russian jet fighters in an operation on Sunday evening at a base near Lipetsk, a city in western Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said only that its forces shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight, three of them over the Krasnodar region.
Meanwhile, Russian forces kept up their targeting of Ukraine’s energy sector, aiming to deprive civilians of heat and running water during the frigid winter. Russia has tried to knock out power in Ukraine throughout the war, in a tactic that Ukraine refers to as “weaponizing winter.”
Energy infrastructure across five regions were attacked during the night, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.
Russia struck Ukraine with 86 drones of different types overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Ukrainian forces stopped 58 of them, it said.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo taken on Saturday Dec. 20, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, ruins in the town of Kostyantynivka, the site of heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
In this photo taken on Saturday Dec. 20, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, ruins of buildings in the town of Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
In this photo taken on Saturday Dec. 20, 2025 and provided by Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier walks through the ruins of the town of Kostyantynivka, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
