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3B/1B Isaac Paredes, top 3B prospect Cam Smith and RHP Hayden Wesneski headed back to Houston for Tucker, per reports.

DiComo: NEW YORK -- The Mets are about to fete one of the greatest players in their history with the most prestigious honor a team can bestow. The team intends to retire David Wright's No. 5 and induct him into the Mets Hall of Fame during a July 19 ceremony at Citi Field, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plans. Wright will become the 10th individual to have his number retired by the Mets and the second, along with Tom Seaver, to enter the team's Hall of Fame on the same day. The ceremony will take place before a 4:10 p.m. ET game against the Reds. The most accomplished position player in Mets history, Wright hit 242 home runs, drove home 970 runs and compiled 49.2 Wins Above Replacement over a 14-year career in New York. He established a Hall of Fame arc in his 20s before succumbing to the back, neck and shoulder injuries that ultimately ended his career. From 2015-17, Wright played in only 75 games. He returned in 2018 to appear in two final, emotional games -- the last of them before a sold-out crowd at Citi.

Juan Soto is at Citi Field wearing a Mets cap, Mets jersey with his name and the number 22. Now for baseball pants, spikes and a bat!

Official release: METS SIGN FOUR-TIME ALL-STAR JUAN SOTO FLUSHING, N.Y., December 11, 2024 – The New York Mets today announced that the club has signed outfielder Juan Soto to a 15-year major league contract with a club option and contingent player opt-out after the 2029 season. “This is a seminal moment in franchise history,” Mets Owners Steve and Alex Cohen said. “Juan Soto is a generational talent. He is not only bringing staggering historical statistics with him but also a championship pedigree. Our Amazin' fan base is very excited to welcome Juan to Queens. Congratulations, Juan.” “Today's signing further solidifies our organizational commitment to consistent championship competitiveness,” said Mets President of Baseball Operations, David Stearns. “Not only does Juan provide historic levels of on field production, but his joy, intensity, and passion for the game mirror our budding culture. We are thrilled to add him to our team and look forward to watching his excellence for years to come.” Over a seven-year major league career with the New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals, Soto has posted a .285/.421/.532 slashline with 655 runs, 179 doubles, 15 triples, 201 home runs, 592 RBI, 57 steals and a 36.4 career bWAR in 936 games. He has won the Silver Slugger Award five times (2020-24), finished in the top 10 in MVP voting five times (2019-21, 2023-24) and won the National League batting title after batting .351 (54-154) in 2020. In addition, the four-time All-Star (2021-24) was the winner of the 2022 Home Run Derby. Since he made his major league debut on May 15, 2018, Soto leads the major leagues in walks (769), times on base (1,719) and on-base percentage (.421), and ranks fourth in OPS (.953), sixth in RBI (592) and seventh in both SLG (.532) and home runs (201). The native of the Dominican Republic has led MLB in free passes three times in his career 2023 - (132), 2022 (135) and 2021 (145). He became the first player to lead the major leagues in three straight seasons since Barry Bonds did so in four straight seasons from 2001-04. Soto has recorded at least 100 walks in five of his six 162-game seasons (2019, 2021-24). He joins Babe Ruth (10), Barry Bonds (10), Ted Williams (eight), Eddie Yost (seven) and Eddie Stanky (four) as one of six players in major league history to record at least 125 walks in four different seasons. In 157 games with the Yankees last season, the outfielder batted .288/.419/.569 with 128 runs, 31 doubles, four triples, 41 home runs, 109 RBI and 129 walks. He ranked second in the majors in OBP (.419), walks (129) and runs (128), third in OPS (.989), fourth in SLG (.569) and home runs (41), sixth in bWAR (7.9), tied for sixth in RBI (109) and ninth in total bases (328). He set career highs in runs, hits (166), home runs, total bases and extra-base hits (76), all while finishing third in AL MVP voting. The left-handed hitter has played 35 games at Citi Field and hit .333 (39-117) with 29 runs, six doubles, one triple, 12 homers, 26 RBI, 28 walks with a .466 OBP, a .709 SLG and a 1.175 OPS. On August 12, 2020, as a member of the Nationals, Soto belted the longest home run of his career at Citi Field, traveling 466 feet. That ranks as the fourth-longest home run at Citi Field in the Statcast era (since 2015). The 26-year-old has appeared in 43 Postseason games and owns a .281/.389/.538 slashline with 31 runs, eight doubles, 11 home runs, 30 RBI, two steals with a .927 OPS. He was a member of the 2019 World Series Champion Washington Nationals, batting .333 (9-27) with six runs, two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI in the Fall Classic. In 2024, Soto played in 14 Postseason games, batting .327 (16-49) with 12 runs, three doubles, four home runs, nine RBI, 14 walks with a 1.101 OPS. Originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Nationals on July 2, 2015, Soto made his major league debut with Washington at the age of 19 in 2018. He went on to hit .292/.406/.517 with 25 doubles, one triple, 22 home runs, 70 RBI and a .923 OPS to finish second in the National League Rookie of the Year ballot.

Heyman reports Juan Soto has passed his physical

Phils trade Vasil to Rays for cash.

Mets didn't make a pick.

Phillies pick off Mike Vasil.

Rays grab Nate Lavender.

Red Sox knit one, purl two, get Crochet for 4 top prospects.

Cleveland voice Tom Hamilton, well-regarded already, nabs the Ford C. Frick Award I'd have preferred go to Gary Cohen. Congratulations, Tom; Gare's day will come. At least it wasn't Sterling.

Rocky Colavito, the epitome of Cleveland baseball for a generation, 91.

Jake Burger heading from the Marlins to the Rangers.

Guardians flip Spencer Horwitz to Buccos.

This Boswell masterpiece, from October 20, 1999, has stayed with me for more than a quarter-century. I Love This Game By Thomas Boswell ATLANTA -- Some people think that there are better games than baseball. But they're wrong. Something in sports can, perhaps, be just as good as Tuesday night's game between the Mets and Braves. But how could anything be better? Within one game, baseball can create so many individual dramas, so many subplots, so many countervailing trends and crosscurrents that you want to break up laughing at the sheer ridiculous richness of the plot. These two teams reached a point Tuesday night where virtually every player came to the plate or took the mound with a personal playoff legend trailing behind that was of almost Arthurian weight. What has this brave knight Piazza done before to prove his valor? Will the knave Punk Rocker be punished? Can the humble servant Todd Pratt save the whole realm again? Will the sorcerer Valentine find potions to neutralize the incantations of Cox? Can the jester Kenny Rogers, so often the object of mockery, redeem himself? Or will he wear the cap and bells again? And what amazing fluke of fate--a runner caught between bases who escapes, a bobbled throw at the plate, a double switch that backfires two hours later, deep in extra innings--will change everything that follows? Oh, by the way, the Atlanta Braves won the National League pennant Tuesday night, 10-9, in 11 innings in Game 6 of the league championship series. Andruw Jones drew a bases-loaded, six-pitch walk from Rogers who, once again, simply crumbled under the same pressure that seemed to bring out the best in almost every other player on both teams. Rogers's inability to throw a ball within two feet of his target with the season on the line seemed to be a cruel abject lesson: This is what would happen to any normal human under such conditions. Imagine the strength of these others. For the legion within baseball who consider Mets Manager Bobby Valentine the game's premier overmanager, this was the richest imaginable ending. With a man on third and one out in the 11th, issuing one intentional walk--to set up an inning ending double play--is the normal book call. The overmanager, however, is tempted by a second intentional walk--injecting himself into the game, seeking credit--that will load the bases and set up a possible force at the plate. Valentine went for the second intentional walk, putting incredible pressure on a pitcher who desperately needs a margin of error to breathe. What ever happened to "Know thy men"? To say that such a final act could capture such a story would be a joke. The Braves led 5-0 after one inning and 7-3 after six innings. They had this game locked up, salted away and hidden in the family vault twice. The Braves also trailed 8-7 in the eighth inning and 9-8 in the 10th inning. They were absolutely dead twice and on the verge of facing a humiliating Game 7. Team of the '90s? Dream on. If they lost that one, they'd be remembered longer as the only team in baseball history ever to hold a three-games-to-none lead and lose in October. However, unlike almost any game you have ever seen, this four-hour-plus combination of blood feud and chess match was more a testament to the sport itself than to the determination of a champion. Some research, at a future date, when the blood is not pounding in everyone's ears, will no doubt be required to decide whether this playoff series between the Mets and Braves was the all-time best of its breed. The scores were 4-2, 4-3, 1-0, 3-2, 4-3 (in 15) and 10-9 (in 11). Every one a spellbinder. But, whatever the result of that analysis, one thing's for sure: This dog can hunt with any. They say that sixth games are usually the greatest in baseball's historic seven-game October wars. Carlton Fisk's home run off the Fenway Park foul pole in 1975 was a Game 6. So was Bill Buckner's error in Shea Stadium in the '86 Series. This series, however, had the great good fortune to end on an amazing crescendo. No anticlimax this time. The subtext of this entire game was the slaying of ghosts. How many times do you have to kill a ghost to make it stay dead? Or is that a contradiction in terms? Baseball players seldom bother themselves with such issues. But the Braves had to face it for more than four hours. For the Braves, who thought they had their fifth pennant of the '90s all sewed up just four days ago, Halloween seemed to have come unnervingly early. They've been booed in New York. But the biggest "Boo" of all came here in Game 6. The Mets totally ignored a five-run first inning by the Braves that knocked out New York's best starter--Al Leiter--before he could get a single out. How was that for a first-round knockdown? "Ding!" Walk across the ring. Left hook and a right cross. Break the guy's nose and loosen a few teeth. See how bad he wants to get back up. The Mets wanted to get back up as badly as any baseball team ever has. The player who epitomized the Mets' gallantry was Mike Piazza. His two-run homer over the right field fence off John Smoltz in the seventh inning tied the game at 7. Piazza has hit many similar homers, yet none was remotely like this, because few players have been as injured, bashed and singled out for misery by their foes as Piazza has been in this series. These teams have despised each other all year. The memories of head-hunting and bad-mouthing criss-cross back and forth from one dugout to the other. Yet it is the great Piazza, symbol of the Mets, who has been the Braves' target in every game. Tuesday night in the sixth inning, the Braves' Brian Jordan--a former defensive back for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL--leg-whipped Piazza at the plate, cutting his feet out from under him on a force out. In the regular season, such a play would have absolutely mandated an immediate bench-clearing brawl. Instead, Piazza simmered. For one inning. In the seventh inning, he had his revenge, hitting his homer over the head of which Braves outfielder? Jordan, of course. That moment was typical of a dozen in this one game. At one point, it seemed that Pratt had struck the game-winning sacrifice off John "Punk" Rocker in the 10th inning. Yes, you read that right. Pratt--the ex-pizza delivery boy who has hung in the big leagues by the thinnest of threads--got his third utterly crucial postseason RBI. And he did it off the despised (Off Your) Rocker who, a week ago, called Mets fans "stupid." Just to prove how smart he was, on Monday, Rocker slammed his sports car into a tractor trailer, totaling the front end and ripping a wheel sideways. As he sleeps the sleep of the reprieved, Rocker can thank Jose Hernandez, who tied the game in the eighth with an RBI single, and Ozzie Guillen, who slapped a single off Armando Benitez to tie the game again in the bottom of the 10th. Of course, everyone who saw this game ought to thank all of 'em. The Pittsburgh Pirates once beat the New York Yankees, 10-9, in the seventh game of the World Series on a 10th-inning home run by Bill Mazeroski. So we probably can't say that this 10-9 Braves win to capture a pennant was the best game ever to conclude a postseason series. Such categories are a kind of eternal 10-way tie. Everyone gets to pick their favorite. Let me sleep on it. This might be mine.

Toronto gets: 2B Andres Gimenez RHP Nick Sandlin Cleveland gets: 1B Spencer Horwitz OF Nick Mitchell

A man without a natural beat for too many post-Senator/pre-National years, making do with columns and Orioles (and a few essential collections).

Tom Boswell, definitely one of those “he didn't win it already?” guys, wins the Hall of Fame's writer award, formerly the Spink.

Plus Soto appears to enjoy Marte's company...though he can always buy new friends.

Elevator clause can kibosh opt out. Man will get paid.

75 mil signing bonus, no deferred money.

Opt out after 5 yeara, Martino.

So says Passan 15 yr, 765 mil.

Willy Adames, who annoys Jesse Winker, signs with SF. 7 years, 182 mil.