Jeff McNeil on being dealt away from Mets: 'A little bit of a surprise when the trade did happen'

It was, Jeff McNeil acknowledged, strange.

With the Mets, he was used to making the quick turn to the home clubhouse after strolling into the park from the players’ parking lot. He might have ventured over to the visiting clubhouse once.

But as McNeil made his return to Citi Field on Friday night as a member of the Athletics after an offseason trade, all of that changed.

“Never really been on this side of the stadium before,” McNeil said before the A’s-Mets series opener. “Just a little different.”

After eight seasons with the Mets in which he was an All-Star twice and won the batting title in 2022, McNeil was traded to the A’s in December for righthander Yordan Rodriguez, who was 17 at the time.

The trade was part of an offseason makeover in which president of baseball operations David Stearns traded Brandon Nimmo to Texas for Marcus Semien and saw Pete Alonso sign a five-year, $155 million free-agent deal with Baltimore. Stearns did try to re-sign Edwin Diaz, presenting the closer with a reported three-year, $66 million offer, but Diaz signed a three-year, $69 million contract with the Dodgers.

“It was definitely an interesting offseason for them,” McNeil said. “I felt like we had a pretty good team. We were one game away from [making] the postseason last year. That was tough but that’s business, and Dave is over there trying to put the best team on the field as possible.”

Stearns, who also spoke before the game, explained that his rationale for the overhaul was to build “a pretty well-rounded team that could win games in a variety of different ways, that didn’t necessarily need to rely on one segment of the team over other segments . . . I think I’d look at it and say we set out to build a pretty balanced club that could win games in different ways.”

The Mets entered Friday’s game with a 7-6 record. The A’s were 5-7.

McNeil, who had played in 11 of the Athletics’ 12 games before Friday night, was 8-for-31 (.258 batting average) this season with three runs scored, two RBIs and one extra-base hit. He was slugging .290 and had a .343 on-base percentage and .633 OPS. He had played mostly at second base but also had seen action at first base and rightfield.

“We have a pretty young team here,” McNeil said. “Super-talented, though. A lot of fun to be around. So it is nice to be one of the older guys and let my experience help them and show them the way. I’ve been enjoying it so far and definitely I think I’m in a much different role here.”

He thought he would return to the Mets this season as an outfielder. When asked if Stearns had indicated to him the possibility of changes to the roster after the end of the season, McNeil said a plan in which he would play the outfield had been outlined.

“I was actually sitting at home when he traded Nimmo,” McNeil said. “He did give me a call right after that, kind of let me know what was going on. He actually thought I was going to be part of the team. He said he had some [thoughts] for me playing outfield, especially with Semien coming in. Never really gave me any heads up on the trade block or anything like that.

“I actually thought there was a good possibility I was going to come back and play outfield for the Mets. So it was a little bit of a surprise when the trade did happen.”

McNeil did not think his relationship with Francisco Lindor played a role in his being traded. The two had an incident in a hallway in a 2021 game at Citi Field against the Diamondbacks. After last season, the New York Post reported that Lindor grabbed McNeil by the throat in an argument over a blown defensive play.

“We were teammates,” said McNeil, who confirmed that an argument took place. “I think he’s a great guy, great person, and enjoyed my time playing with him. Wish him all the best. Great baseball player. One of the best shortstops ever to do it, so best of luck to him in the rest of his career, and it was fun playing with him.”

Soto ‘progressing’

Stearns said Juan Soto is “progressing as we expect” from a strained right calf, but he indicated on Friday that the Mets do not have a firm timetable as to when the $765 million outfielder can begin running on the field.

Soto suffered the injury in the first inning of the Mets’ 10-3 win over the Giants in San Francisco on April 3, and the team put him on the 10-day injured list Monday. Ronny Mauricio was called up from Triple-A Syracuse in the corresponding roster move.

“He’s moving around indoors,” Stearns said. “The key at this point is let’s make sure he doesn’t get decommissioned and let’s keep him going [so] that when the calf’s fully good, we don’t have this lengthy ramp-up.

“I don’t have a specific on this day he’s going to start running, on this day he’s going to hit on the field. We don’t have that yet, but we’re optimistic that this is not going to be a particularly long-term absence right now.”

Soto is not the only Mets position player whose return to the lineup is uncertain. Manager Carlos Mendoza said infielder Jorge Polanco is dealing with bursitis in his Achilles tendon. Polanco had an MRI on Thursday that revealed the condition, which is being treated with medication, according to Mendoza.

“He feels a lot better. We just have to limit the defensive side there, how much pressure he puts there,” Mendoza said. “It should heal with the medication. We have to make sure he’s not putting too much pressure [on it]. Hitting is fine, running. It’s just the position, when he has to get down, fielding, stretching at first base, he puts pressure there that’s going to irritate it.”