The Red Sox hoped guaranteeing Cooper Criswell $800,000 for the upcoming season would be enough to deter teams from claiming him off waivers, in the event they needed to remove him from the 40-man roster.

That gambit failed Friday, when the New York Mets claimed the righty off waivers.

The move comes less than 24 hours after the Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates swung a five-player trade, with Boston designating Criswell for assignment in order to open a roster spot. The Red Sox received right-handed starter Johan Oviedo, lefty reliever Tyler Samaniego, and minor league catcher Adonys Guzman in exchange for top outfield prospect Jhostynxon ‘The Password’ Garcia and minor league pitcher Jesus Travieso.

Criswell, 29, pitched to a 4.00 ERA over these last two years with the Red Sox, during which he pitched in 33 big-league games and made 19 starts. He was an underrated part of the ’24 Red Sox, pitching a career-high 99.1 innings and posting a 4.08 ERA over 26 games. Struggles in relief appearances (7.53 ERA) inflated the swingman’s overall ERA; he pitched to a 3.49 mark over 18 starts.

With a healthier major league pitching staff in ’25, Criswell spent the majority of the season in Triple-A Worcester. He made just seven big-league appearances, including one start, and allowed seven earned runs over 17.2 innings (3.57 ERA). His final appearance for the Red Sox was a gem: making his first, and ultimately only, big-league start of the season on Aug. 1 at Fenway Park, he held the visiting Houston Astros to just one earned run, a solo homer, on seven hits, two walks, and struck out four over seven innings in a 2-1 extra-inning Red Sox win.

In Triple-A, Criswell posted a 3.70 ERA across 65.2 innings (16 games, 14 starts). His season ended in late August when he landed on the minor league injured list with right elbow inflammation.

The 2026 major league minimum is $780,000, but Criswell likely would have earned a fraction of that if he remained with Boston, as he was not projected to spend much of the upcoming season on the big-league roster. Giving him a guaranteed salary of $800,000 would have also incentivized him to accept an outright assignment to the minors, something he had the power to decline as he had previously been outrighted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2022.