Reese Kaplan -- For the 2027 Season Mets Ask, "What's on Second?"

During the club’s history the Mets have had a great many people man second base who contributed with the bat, the glove, their legs or a combination of all three. 

Then came Marcus Semien...

In a trade as much about payroll obligation as it was about personnel, David Stearns sent Brandon Nimmo and his remaining salary obligation of nearly $118 million to the Texas Rangers to obtain a reduced payroll hit of $72 million for what is likely the final three years of Marcus Semien’s career. 

While the financial narrative makes some sense, the performance data does not.  Oddly, as bad as Semien has played for the Mets, he’s actually leading Nimmo this year in HRs, though he trails in RBIs, OPS and by a huge margin of 61 points in batting average.  Is Nimmo worth over $20 million?  Probably not.  Is Marcus Semien worth over $26 million?  Definitely not. 

Fast forward to the 2027 season and the Mets have an interesting decision to make.  Do they eat the remaining $46 million due to Semien for the next two years, do they trot him out again as the starting second baseman or do they relegate him into the role of the most expensive bench player in baseball?

On the first front, it’s not likely to happen though it suggests there is a possibility of swapping him for an equally bad (or worse) contract from another team to fulfill another Mets need.  The second option — retaining him as the starting second baseman — feels somewhat more likely to happen.  His second half numbers have been far better than what he’s done in the first half but it’s really hard to justify a defensively declining .210 hitter being paid $26 million in salary simply because the role is rationalized as justified due to the accounting obligation.

Now as a bench player his salary would be a mighty painful pill to swallow unless you are using him as a coach to mentor a younger replacement taking the starting role.  We’re not talking about Brett Baty who has failed since 2022 with about 1300 ABs of a career .227 average.  That’s not much of an improvement over what Semien can provide at this late stage of his career.

Instead, you could think about short term solutions on a one year basis using thus untested Ronny Mauricio who has heated up in Syracuse where he’s hitting .272 with 14 HRs and 42 RBIs in just over 1/3 of a season’s worth of ABs.  Throw in the 10 SBs as well and you have a guy with power and speed who has never been given the major league starting role for more than a game or two at a time.  Injuries and fellow Mets players have interfered with his career trajectory, but it is possible he could take on the second base role in Queens.

The other contender for this role would be A.J. Ewing who is not a terrific fielder, but has shown himself even through a slump to be a strong contact hitter with moderate power and great speed.  His outfield defense has been pretty impressive and moving him out of center field to make room for the contractual obligation of Luis Robert is another way they could choose to go with Semien hopefully shepherding Ewing into becoming a stronger middle infielder.

Of course, both of these options are considered at best temporary with stellar 21 year old  minor leaguer Mitch Voit being the expected second baseman of the future.  While currently torturing AA pitchers to the tune of a .444 batting average over his first 63 Binghamton ABs, you can’t argue with his legs.  In less than a full season during 2025 and 2026 he has swiped 62 bases while also contributing 13 HRs and 59 RBIs.  It may be too soon to project him in Queens on opening day 2027 but he’s the next one everyone expects to see deliver a high level of production.

Finally, another route the Mets could take would be to sign a short term free agent to man second base for next season.  At the high end you have Jazz Chisholm and Gleyber Torres but both would require multiyear deals and in effect block Voit in 2028.  Slightly below them would be Brandon Lowe who at age 32 might be open to a multiyear deal with mutual opt outs.