Traded to the Mets at the deadline, Cedric Mullins sputtered down the stretch. Ishika Samant / Getty Images
The Tampa Bay Rays secured their likely starting center fielder on Wednesday when they signed Cedric Mullins to a one-year, $7 million deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal confirmed.
Mullins ranked 39th on The Athletic’s Big Board — third among center fielders — and was projected for a one-year, $11 million contract.
Source confirms: Cedric Mullins to Rays on one-year deal, pending physical. First: @TBTimes_Rays
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 3, 2025
After spending his whole career with the Orioles, Mullins was traded to the Mets at the deadline last summer and, like the team that acquired him, sputtered down the stretch. He hit under .200 with New York and saw his playing time reduced in the second half of September.
That’s not the platform anyone wants entering free agency, especially when one’s career season is now as distant as Mullins’ is. He is not the six-win player who earned MVP votes for a 2021 campaign that included 30 home runs. In the four years since, he has settled in as a quality two-way center fielder, one with a solid glove (and the occasional spectacular catch) and a roughly league-average bat.
That’s not easy to find on the open market; it’s also not easy to sustain into your 30s. Mullins will play next season at 31. But by offering a deal, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays signaled their belief that Mullins can still produce.
Two things worth watching after Mullins’ 2025 season are his defense and his performance against left-handed pitching. Typically reliable in center, he endured a defensive slump early in the season before rebounding in the second half to look more like his usual self with the glove.
And against southpaws, the one-time switch-hitter — he ditched the right side after 2020 — posted a .782 OPS. That was a huge improvement over 2024 and more than 100 points better than his career mark heading into the season.
Dec 4, 2025
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