Well, it looks like the Semi-end of an era as last night's announcement started the unravelling of a core of old-time Mets. According to the unofficial release, the Mets will trade Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien.
The trade fits with David Stearns' new direction - to strengthen the defense (run prevention) on the team. Semien is a three-time all star and a two-time gold glove winner in the American League with some strong credentials as a middle infielder with both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers. That is not to say that Brandon Nimmo is not a good fielder, but Nimmo has slowed a bit recently, producing 1 and -1 Outs Above Average in the past two seasons. Semien, on the other hand, produced 7 OAA last year and a whopping 19 OAA in his 2024 season.
Both teams get some benefit from this trade, as Semien is owed some serious salary over the next few years and Nimmo is a lower yearly hit, but has a larger contract over the long term. The Rangers get a solid player in all aspects of the game and a positive influence in the clubhouse. The Mets get a gold glove defender who will play every day at second base and leave the Mets with a plethora of options for some other positions both with existing veterans and with upcoming prospects.
As much as this will help the re-build for the future, I am somewhat sad to see Nimmo go, as he represents a home-grown kid with a big smile and a work ethic to get better every year. He was a Met for life until he wasn't, which makes you look wistfully at the rest of the off-season with other Met-for-life guys like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil suddenly no longer sure things. I would hate to lose either of them, but the business side of baseball looms large and the Mets are not going to use sentiment as a decision making tool for their future.
Nimmo was a great contributor for the Mets over his ten year career, accounting for 593 runs scored and 463 runs batted in. He slashed .262/.364/.438 over those ten seasons and registered 26.1 WAR. Unfortunately some of his prime years were spent either injured or recovering from injury as his always hustling style caused many collisions with the walls, the turf, and sometimes other players. He is a little more cautious now and a little less injured, but still plays a capable outfield. He struggled in 2024, but otherwise has been a .260-.270 hitter with a high 300's on-base percentage that any team would value.
Brandon Nimmo was a memorable Met, known for sprinting to first on a base-on-balls, letting loose a broad smile frequently during the game, and a positive demeanor during interviews that endeared him to the fans.
He joins a bevy of former Mets in the Rangers organization, including former Ace Jacob DeGrom, former prospect Dom Hamel, and former #1 draft pick Kumar Rocker. I will miss him.
8 comments:
I expected this positive spin out of Paul. Nimmo was always a favorite of his.
I can't believe I've changed the tense of describing Brandon as if he had died yesterday. According to some of you on X in the last 12 hours. you too have come close to crossing over
First, don't feel sorry for Brandon. He's paying no state and local tax now on that pittance of a paycheck
Two, he is with friends. deGrom, Rocker, Hamel
Three, I don't remember seeing him ride in one of those special vans where the players can stand up and wave as confetti hits them, driving down 5th avenue in their victory parade
Four, Steve Cohen bought this team in 2020 saying he would have a 5-year play
Five, next season is 2026
Six, THEY MISSED THE PLAYOFFS BY ONE GAME and lost to all those horrible teams in the second half of the season
Seven, their winning percentage for games trailing after eight innings and coming back to win was .000
Eight, all it took was one more decent contact by Nimmo and the Mets could have been in the playoffs
Nine, Stearns could give a rat's ass about loyalty and schmaltz. This is his Last Waltz now
Ten, more at 11...
Love nimmo but this makes so much sense as a first move. First off, we gain a superior defensive 2B. semien’s bat has been bleh the last 2 years but he had almost 30 HR in 2023 as part of a 7+ WAR season and after a dismal start last year from the end of may on he had about an 800 OPS. He still runs well and part his performance the last 2 years has been a very low babip rate. I dont think semien will have a 7 WAR season again but he can definitely have a bit more offensive upside than people think. He was worth more WAR than nimmo last year even with a poor batting line.
Nimmo’s defense is really what’s hurting him but his OBP has been taking for the last 2 years as well.
Operating under the assumption you're getting rid of mcneil as well you just got yourself rock solid defense at 2B to pair with lindor up the middle, upside from a righty bat (always good for us to get another righty in our lefty heavy lineup) that opens up the corner outfield for a big upgrade.
Also, Nimmo wont be clogging up DH in the future so it helps the case to bring Pete back.
Also, also… i think Jett is trade bait officially.
A very savy first move that opens up a world of possibilities but an incomplete grade until we see how Sterns delivers downstream from this trade
Nice guy, great met, played well, unfortunately - paid too much for too long. All the best Brandon - sincerely.
Interesting stat- Semian got off to a very slow start but for the second half of year he hit .270 with 12 homers, so there maybe some offensive upside to go with the defense
His offense in 2026 will at least equal either Acura or McNeil
Hud D is much better than Acura and GREATLY better than McNeil
Great article, I’m still in shock Nimmo was traded.
Nimmo was a very good player for the Mets and very likable overall. He did receive something of an overinflated contract. What commenators miss is that Semien has a shorter time left in his contract and is unlikely to stand in the way of developing players while dramatically improving the defense on the right side of the infield. What would you be saying about Nimmos contract two years from now. That is a question you need to answer. No such issue with Semien, who by the way has been popular as a player everywhere he's been and is an extremely hard worker and does lengthen the lineup while providing an opening in left field for the Mets and lots of potential trade chips. Nimmo was two different kinds of offensive player for the Mets and both were desirable. For most of his career he tireless worked pitchers and counts and was Mr. 3/2 count. He wasn't that later in his stay. He hit for power, played decent defence and was a stalwart of the team. He is a loss as one would feel such a loss for any player you could admire and respect. That said, it is always better to trade a person a year early than a year late. Indeed, a year late would have been a year or two from now and his value to others would have diminished greatly. The question is what happens next. The Mets have a number of quality outfield prospects only 1 of which may be ready in 2026 (Benge). Perhaps Williams, Moribota or Ewing will be, but I have no way of knowing. My guess is that this opens the door for the Mets to consider 3 possibilities: Bellinger, Tucker and Tatis. The first two cost no players; the third would. The Mets have the need, the money and the players if necessary. hard for me to see this trade as anything other than a move that improves defense, adds a major league, mature player with a good career and a short contract, while leaving, if not actually increasing, the options open to them to improve substantially in left field and at first base. Small point, it also provides a right handed bat which frees them a bit to pursue the likes of Tucker and Bellinger who are both LH bats. I still favor Alonso as 70/30 DH/first base and someone like Hearn to share both DH and 1st bath with Alonso. This leaves most of the money to be spent on pitchers and chips for a high leverage starter or money for a free agent or two. I see Senga being traded as too unreliable for Mets' goals. Manaea contract is not tradable. To me, the ideal situation is to bring in Tatis to play rt; move Soto to left. Bring back Alonso if it makes sense in terms of years on 70/30 role distribution.; As far as pitchers, I don't think there is a top of rotation pitcher I would trade for other than Skenes as his salary is low and team control high. Skubal has mileage and no guarantee he will be signed; and at a great cost. Makes no sense to me. Of other pitchers available in SR I prefer taking a chance with King, and another mid-rotation pitcher of which there are several that are ok. The mid rotation set of options is far better than the top of the rotation pool. I would take two in the mid rotation class if I couldn't trade for Skenes
I also believe the Mets position in the off-season is somewhat fluid. I have heard from someone connected to the organization that they have checked in on Tucker and Bellinger but also on the Japanese first baseman and pitcher. There is a certain lack of clarity in the direction they go that is natural as there is more than one plausible direction to pursue depending on what else occurs in the market. They don't need Alonso per se; what they need is a power hitting right hander who can protect Soto in the lineup. There may be no one better able to do that than Alonso, not just this year, but for years to come, as they have no heavy hitting bat in the minors who is ready for MLB. They seem to have faith that Vientos swing is reparable, which is something I believe is half right. He has a steep angle of attack in his swing which means he has trouble with pitches both higher in the zone and lower and out of the zone. When he came up, Judge, given his height also had a steep angle of attack that was corrected by his flattening or shallowing his transition. Vientos can do the same; it takes work. The part I don't believe in is his capacity to recognize pitches. The only other righty they currently have on the roster to perform in the required role is Alvarez, but as I have pointed out more than once, and RVH has similarly posted, his mechanics are a nightmare. He has terrible sequencing and since he triggers his swing with his upper body, he not only lacks efficient use of the energy available to him, he pulls open early and has no plate coverage. Tatis would be a good add for this purpose of protecting Soto. Bregman is not serviceable in that role. Alonso is more valuable to the Mets than to anyone else, especially were he willing to DH over 50% of the time and split those duties with a left handed first baseman who is a better fielder and a potential DH. Of course in theory it is better to have 6 20 HR hitter strewn throught the lineup than 4 who hit 30 each, but that isn't the only way to look at it. A 20 HR hitter behind Soto is nowhere near as effective in protecting him than is someone who hits 35= HR. That is an easily overlooked feature of Alonso: i.e. how he protects Soto. And it is reciprocal because one reason Alonso had 120+ RBIs is because he got up with more baserunners in scoring postion this year than ever before. So where is that protection going to come from otherwise.
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