Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day today:<\/p>\n
1. Athletics add a bat:<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s Jeff McNeil<\/a> trade saw the A\u2019s add a proven bat to a lineup that already had plenty of firepower. The 33-year-old veteran offers a substantially different look than the power-focused approaches of Nick Kurtz<\/a>, Tyler Soderstrom<\/a>, and Brent Rooker<\/a>, as McNeil is a contact-heavy player good for just ten to 15 homers per season. That should be no problem for an A\u2019s team heavy on power, and alongside fellow contact-oriented middle infielder Jacob Wilson<\/a> should allow the A\u2019s to field a more diverse lineup during their second year in West Sacramento. Whether they\u2019ll be able to add more talent to a roster that had a much larger need for pitching than additional hitting talent remains to be seen, but yesterday undoubtedly saw an already-competitive AL West get just a little bit stronger.<\/p>\n 2. Mets continue restructuring their roster:<\/p>\n The McNeil trade was the latest move in the Mets\u2019 roster overhaul following a deeply disappointing 2025 season. McNeil joined outfielder Brandon Nimmo<\/a> in being traded away, while Pete Alonso<\/a> and Edwin Diaz<\/a> were both allowed to walk in free agency. The additions of Luke Weaver<\/a>, Devin Williams<\/a>, Jorge Polanco<\/a>, and Marcus Semien<\/a> haven\u2019t exactly inspired confidence in the future within the fan base so far, though president of baseball operations David Stearns surely isn\u2019t anywhere close to done with the team\u2019s offseason moves. New York has been known to be searching for a top of the rotation starter all offseason, and it seems as though at least one more bat for an outfield mix that has little certainty outside of Juan Soto<\/a> also appears to be a must. What will be the team\u2019s next addition?<\/p>\n 3. Movement on the outfield market?<\/p>\n The outfield market saw some of its first movement of the offseason yesterday, though it wasn\u2019t a top-of-the-market bat like Kyle Tucker<\/a> or Cody Bellinger<\/a> coming off the board. Instead, veteran bench bat Rob Refsnyder<\/a> landed with the Mariners on a one-year deal. The addition of Refsnyder looks to be a savvy one for a Mariners club that figures to rely on platoon players like Dominic Canzone<\/a> and Luke Raley<\/a> in significant roles next year, and while it\u2019s unlikely to make a significant difference at the top of the market it could spark some action in the lower tiers of the market. Refsnyder joins Lane Thomas<\/a> as a notable right-handed outfield bat who has now signed, with players like Austin Hays<\/a> and Harrison Bader<\/a> still unsigned among a dwindling group of available options in free agency. Could one of those names follow suit before the holidays?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are three things we\u2019ll be keeping an eye on throughout the day today: 1. Athletics add a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,5,1332,4,3226],"class_list":{"0":"post-491227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-athletics","8":"tag-athletics","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-jeff-mcneil","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-athletics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115770749306335085","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}