Nimmo for Semien?

[Bob Alpacadaca]

Jeff Passan is saying the Mets and Rangers are working on a deal that would send Brandon Nimmo to Texas in exchange for Marcus Semien.

Nimmo has the full no-trade clause and the eight-year, $162 million contract signed in 2022. Semien was signed for seven years, $175 million in 2021. Seems like an odd deal if it's straight up.

[Gwreck]

Will Sammon reporting that Nimmo has approved the trade.

[Frayed Knot]

Semien will play at age 35 next season with three years remaining on his deal while Nimmo turns 33 in March w/five years remaining on his, so there's a trade-off to be made on both clubs. And if he doesn't have a no-trade in his contract he'll gain 10/5 rights after the '26 season so that gives Texas an incentive to do something this winter.

Semien had a good peak from '21 thru '23 (combined 20.5 WAR) but has fallen off in the recent two seasons (offensive WAR = 3.1 & 2.7) about the same as Nimmo (2.6 & 2.6).

The main thing is the positional difference. Semien is more valuable defensively (he'll be a 2B here plus Lindor insurance at SS) but we've got about seven other guys itching to play 2B full-time and that's really the BIG question to be answered this winter: what to do with the quintet of McNeil, Baty, Acuna, Mauricio, and Vientos for the 2B/3B/DH roles, plus whatever is possibly coming up from the farm, maybe later, maybe sooner.

I was going to start a thread on the subject of how that 2B/3B situation gets resolved as there is almost certainly going to be a trade (or two?) this winter involving one or more of that crew as it's the most logical source of trade bait. What I wasn't contemplating was the idea of importing a 2nd baseman.

[Frayed Knot]

Will Sammon reporting that Nimmo has approved the trade.

 

Nimmo's family relocated from Wyoming to Austin, TX a few years back.

[Gwreck]

Will Sammon reporting that Nimmo has approved the trade.

 

Nimmo's family relocated from Wyoming to Austin, TX a few years back.

 

Nimmo and his wife bought a large house in Old Westbury a few years back too. (https://therealdeal.com/new-york/tristate/2023/03/14/finding-nimmo-a-home-mets-star-buys-in-old-westbury/).

[Centerfield]

I’m guessing this is what needed to be done to get out from Nimmo’s contract.

We’ll have to see what else they do before we can really gauge this trade. Maybe Semien is a placeholder until Jett is ready. And then they eat the rest of his contract in 2027/2028.

[Frayed Knot]

Nimmo and his wife bought a large house in Old Westbury a few years back too. (https://therealdeal.com/new-york/tristate/2023/03/14/finding-nimmo-a-home-mets-star-buys-in-old-westbury/).

 

Sure. Just speculating that winding up in the second closest ML city (Houston slightly closer) to Austin might have given him incentive to approve the deal.

Edited November 23, 2025 by Frayed Knot

[Centerfield]

It’s kind of like the Mel Rojas/Bobby Bonilla trade. Bad contract for bad contract. But this time we got the shorter one.

[Gwreck]

I’m guessing this is what needed to be done to get out from Nimmo’s contract.

 

The Mets will save a net of $29.25 million across 2029 and 2030 as a result of this deal. That’s…not really impactful.

Also, Nimmo’s contract wasn’t really bad. This is not at all like Rojas/Bonilla.

 

Maybe Semien is a placeholder until Jett is ready. And then they eat the rest of his contract in 2027/2028.

 

Semien won the gold glove at second base last year. He’s not useless. He’s better defensively than any option the Mets could put there other than Acuna who of course cannot hit.

But I am still not enthused about the trade at all.

[Lefty Specialist]

I dunno. You've already got 4 people who can play second (McNeil, Baty, Acuna, Mauricio) so you get ANOTHER one? One who's 35 and hit .230 last year? What am I missing here?

If there's one person who doesn't need to do a salary dump trade, it's Uncle Steve. Unless this is part of a bigger bunch of moves on the chess board, this seems like a dumb deal.

[Fman99]

Hate it. Traded one of the only two good outfielders we had last year.

[ashie62]

This is what happens when a team underperforms by so much

Jett Williams must be happy

[ashie62]

Pastor Nimmo will love it in Texas, no taxes

Was likely not a hard sell

I'll miss him. He was a good Met

[Centerfield]

I’m guessing this is what needed to be done to get out from Nimmo’s contract.

 

The Mets will save a net of $29.25 million across 2029 and 2030 as a result of this deal. That’s…not really impactful.

Also, Nimmo’s contract wasn’t really bad. This is not at all like Rojas/Bonilla.

 

Maybe Semien is a placeholder until Jett is ready. And then they eat the rest of his contract in 2027/2028.

 

Semien won the gold glove at second base last year. He’s not useless. He’s better defensively than any option the Mets could put there other than Acuna who of course cannot hit.

But I am still not enthused about the trade at all.

 

Nimmo’s contract is unquestionably bad. He’s 33 with 5 years left guaranteed. That alone makes it not great. Factor in he’s 2 years into his decline. Has plantar fasciitis. A mid 700s OPS is about the best you can hope for. And is bad defensively. His one elite tool was his OBP. But that’s gone now.

Put it this way. If you offered up Brandon Nimmo for free, would anyone take him? Obviously not. Unless you think Stearns willingly took on the Semien contract.

So it’s a bad contract for bad contract. One of the players is still productive, but the contract is longer. One of the players looks to be shot. But the commitment is shorter.

[Frayed Knot]

I dunno. You've already got 4 people who can play second (McNeil, Baty, Acuna, Mauricio) so you get ANOTHER one? One who's 35 and hit .230 last year? What am I missing here?

If there's one person who doesn't need to do a salary dump trade, it's Uncle Steve. Unless this is part of a bigger bunch of moves on the chess board, this seems like a dumb deal.

 

As I said above, there was going to be some kind of culling the crop from the McBatyCunaRicioIentos grouping this winter. You can only kick the can down the road for so long.

And while I wasn't expecting a 2B import to be launching the whole thing off, now there is a whole menu of young/young-ish players with which to make deals for OFs and pitching.

I see this less as a salary dump than a reduction of further commitment. We get the older guy but Texas gets the longer contract. I guess we'll see how it all works out.

In the end I'm not thrilled with the deal either as I've been a Nimmo guy since he was still in the minors. But I think we all knew something had to give.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't see that this makes them a better team for 2026, but I'm sure this is just the first shoe to drop.

[Centerfield]

I think ultimately the Mets decided they need to move on from Nimmo before it was too late. I think they figured another year and the contract would be unmoveable. So do it now while they had the chance.

Semien was the cost of unloading that commitment. Semien doesn’t save them any money in the short run. But I think they figured he’ll give them elite defense for this year at least. And if they have to eat two years, it’s better than eating 4 years of Nimmo.

I also think this will open up Soto moving to LF.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And makes it more likely that Benge will make the team.

[metsmarathon]

aw, man i really liked brandon nimmo.

granted, he was not good in the outfield last year, and his on base hasn't been where it used to be...

and the whispers going around are that he wasn't a fan of lindor... so...

i dunno. i think the trade makes the mets a better defensive team, but not necessarily a better hitting-for-contact team... actually, semien's k rate was 17.4 to nimmo's 21.6, so.... hmm... that's actually an improvement.

i'm still curious what this means for the bevy of young middle infielders the mets have.... i guess they're not super high on too many of them. or could another shoe be dropping?

[metirish]

I'll miss Nimmo , gotta be some free agents for that outfield spot , Stearns looking at Bellinger maybe ?

[Edgy MD]

I dunno. You've already got 4 people who can play second ...

 

That's what she said ... about Robinson Canó, Roberto Alomar, Carlos Berga, and Juan Samuel.

Giving up perfectly good flesh-and-blood dudes along with high-ticket buckz in order to get a declining secondbaseman that blocks a whole cluster of developing infielders is frequently a game they play. It can be described as a win-now mindset, but I tend to think who are the players of now and who are the players of tomorrow turns over a lot faster than teams realize in November.

[Lefty Specialist]

So at least Mauricio has one more option so you can stash him in Syracuse. Acuna's out of options, and frankly hasn't shown anything offensively, so he's probably a toss-in as part of a bigger trade.

Then you've got Baty and Vientos. Who plays third? Baty's still unproven, but he's a better defender. Does Vientos slide over to first if Alonso doesn't sign? You won't get value for Vientos coming off a bad year. Maybe they can trade for a third baseman to make things even more complicated.

[ashie62]

And makes it more likely that Benge will make the team.

 

This was actually my first thought

Benge is in gilded prospect conversations including Bryce Eldridge Walker Jenkins Max Clark etc

Carson and Jett struggled at 3A but this doesn't dissuade me about how I feel about both of them today. Big ceiling ready to contribute now guys

Semien could be traded by opening day, maybe??

[MFS62]

Other than the financial reason, it does restore a little of the lefty-righty balance to the lineup.

Of all the other 2B candidates, only Mauricio might have been a righty hitting option.

I'm with Ben. This is just the first of many moves.

Later

[smg58]

The winner of this deal is Kyle Tucker, because now the Mets are in on the bidding.

For comparison, look at how desperate the Cardinals are to move on from Nolan Arenado, who's a former star with declining stats and still good but not necessarily elite defense -- basically Semien, but owed less money. I guess you have to ask yourself if Nimmo's contract is that much of an albatross. I'd say not yet, but it definitely could be before it runs out.

My gut is against this deal -- I've liked Nimmo for a while and still do -- but I'll try to look at it in the context of the other moves that happen this offseason.

[Edgy MD]

Worth noting that there has been publicity in the last week or so suggesting Brandon was something of a clubhouse crank. Rather than be purely anonymous, this largely came from the Adam Ottavino story. It was lost in the reportage focusing on Otto's complaints about bullpen use, but he reported Nimmo as (1) being "very proud," (2) taking issue with a filler story matching up the Yankees head to head against the Mets and giving Alex Verdugo the edge over him, and (3) being grouchy about talk of Lindor being named captain.

Numbers (2) and (3) were meant to be examples of (1), of course, and both sound pretty small of Nimmo, if not weighty in the grand scheme of things —sort of simultaneously making Brandon look petty and Ottavino kinda petty too for spilling on it now.

Now, all of that could be exaggerated (it likely is), or even pulled wholly from Ottavino's imagination. It certainly doesn't read like the Nimmo I have watched, but what do I know? What it likely is not is scuttlebutt leaked by the Mets to soften a planned Nimmo deal, as it came from an independent, named source that was ****-talking the organization at the same time.

Oh, also, I hate trades.

[metirish]

Gotta say the more I read about Semien the more I like him, numbers aside he's got some edge and bite in him

[DocTee]

They have to wait until a trip to Arlington in September (22-24) to see their old teammate.

[Cowtipper]

Of all the Mets to get traded, I never thought it'd be Nimmo because of how much time is left on his contract. Good deal though. Semien has been on my dark horse hall of fame watchlist for a while and Nimmo is very good, but not a potential Hall of Famer or even worth watching. The Mets are selling high i would say.

[metirish]

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