Finding out you’ve just been traded is one way to throw off your golf game.
But that’s the way ex-Met Jeff McNeil found out that he was headed to the Athletics on Monday morning.
McNeil, 33, was in the middle of a golf round at TPC Monterey in California when he noticed during the 14th hole that his phone had blown up after not checking for a bit, with messages from his agent and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
“I had a text from Stearns going, ‘Hey, please give me call,’” McNeil remembered, per MLB.com. “I was like, ‘I one hundred percent just got traded.’ I knew it was a possibility. I took that phone call. It was a quick phone call. I thanked him for everything and he thanked me for everything. … Definitely a crazy day.”
While some may have ended their golf game there after hearing the news, the two-time All-Star finished out the round before returning home to process the trade.
He finished his golf round shooting a 73.
The Mets traded McNeil to the A’s for pitching prospect Yordan Rodriguez as the organization continued to disassemble its core, which included letting Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz walk via free agency and trading away Brandon Nimmo.
McNeil spent his entire career with the Mets after getting drafted in the 12th round in 2013, making his big league debut five years later.
McNeil has a long affinity for golf and even told GolfWeek in 2024 that the sport had been his Plan A.
McNeil participated in the New York State Open in 2023 when the tournament was held at Bethpage Black during the MLB All-Star break.
