The Mets have claimed righty Cooper Criswell off waivers from the Red Sox, reports ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Boston designated him for assignment just yesterday as a corresponding move after acquiring Johan Oviedo from the Pirates. (Boston needed 40-man spots for both Oviedo and minor league lefty Tyler Samaniego.) The Mets have not yet announced the claim, but they currently have a pair of 40-man vacancies, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Though Criswell isn’t yet eligible for arbitration, the Sox had signed the right-hander to a fully guaranteed $800K deal for the upcoming season. As noted here at the time he signed, Boston’s hope in doing so was likely that Criswell’s lack of minor league options and a slightly higher-than-usual salary for a pre-arbitration player would help him pass through waivers so they could keep him as non-roster depth.
That didn’t work out for the Red Sox, but we’ve increasingly seen clubs take this tactic with fringe 40-man players who lack minor league options as a means of attempting to bolster their stash of experienced players in the upper minors. The Mets themselves could very well try the same with Criswell later in the offseason as their 40-man roster fills up.
The 29-year-old Criswell appeared in seven games for the Sox in 2025, logging 17 2/3 innings of 3.57 ERA ball but with only an 11.3% strikeout rate. He’s totaled 154 2/3 innings across parts of five major league seasons and carries a career 4.48 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate between the Angels, Rays and Red Sox. He also tossed 65 2/3 innings of 3.70 ERA ball for the Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester this past season, working primarily as a starter.
If Criswell survives the offseason and spring training on the 40-man roster, he’d likely be looking at a swingman role if the Mets consider carrying him on the Opening Day squad. New York currently has Nolan McLean, David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Jonah Tong, Brandon Sproat and Christian Scott ahead of Criswell on the rotation depth chart. The Mets are also likely to further add to that group via free agency and/or trade, though it’s also possible that some of those names could be subtracted via trade. Senga, in particular, has seen his name pop up in recent rumors.