Centerfield

What does that mean? I feel like it’s faster.

MLB trade rumors projected his contract at 4 years, $68M. So a year less than projected at nearly the exact AAV.

His 1.129 and 2.68 FIP indicate maybe he wasn’t as bad as his ERA suggests. Let’s hope so. His ERA suggests he wasn’t pretty bad.

Still in on Diaz. Per diComo and Andy Martino.

Yeah. It would be hard to justify letting Pete walk for fear of his 33-35 seasons and bad defense, then turning around and signing Schwarber. Though I guess you can make the argument that three years is less risk than five. I know batting average isn’t what it used to be. But I don’t think id enjoy rooting for a guy who hits for an average that low. And strikes out that much.

Three years. $50 million. Per Jeff Passan. I hope this doesn’t take them out of the Edwin Diaz sweepstakes.

I don't have the know-how to keep the CPF up and running. But I'd be happy to venmo anyone who has an interest in doing so. And a big thank you go Ben, Edgy, KC and everyone else who has worked hard to keep this little community going all of these years. I can't even imagine a world with no CPF.

I saw a tweet that Hayden Senger is raking too. And I’m totally happy for him but I think this tells us a little about the quality of baseball being played there.

I thought maybe we were finally going to get that fearsome 8th and 9th inning duo that was promised when we got JJPutz. Still waiting.

I think what derailed the Mets in both 1987 was the pitching more than losing an infielder. In 87 the pitching was still good, but you had to be great to make the playoffs. Magical years are tough. It’s hard to recreate magic even if you run back the same exact team. In fact even if you replayed 86 and 2024, you get much different results. As a fan, I put very little focus on clubhouse chemistry. Not because I don’t think it’s important, but because I have no idea how to measure it. I also tend to think, without evidence, that winning is a big part of a great clubhouse rather than the other way around.

https://metsrefugees.com/ I don’t recognize any names. Unless they all have new handles. Anyway. Can we get back to saving this forum?

Sure, here’s the relevant part: [bLOCKQUOTE]Can Semien rebound offensively? The stats on the back of the baseball card for Semien were rough in 2025: a .230/.305/.364 slash line for his worst OPS since he became an established big leaguer a decade ago with the Chicago White Sox. Only nine players qualified for the batting title last season with a worse OPS than Semien’s .669. It’s been a major drop-off since 2023, when Semien finished third in the MVP balloting and helped lead the Rangers to their first championship. But let’s take a look under the hood at those two years. Marcus Semien, 2023 vs. 2025 Exit Velo 88.4 88.3 Barrel % 6.5% 6.7% Hard-Hit % 37.0% 35.0% xWOBA 0.333 0.318 xWOBA con 0.349 0.341 Chase% 21.4% 23.5% Whiff% 18.0% 22.6% K% 14.6% 17.4% BB% 9.6% 9.4% Yes, Semien was worse in 2025 than in 2023; those numbers are moving in the wrong direction. But he wasn’t so far gone in a lot of the important offensive metrics to think he deserved falling off a cliff the way he did. Is Semien likely to contend for an MVP again at age 35 next season? No. Is it reasonable to think he can be better at the plate than he was last season? Yes.[/bLOCKQUOTE] This is encouraging!

He fractured his foot in August and didn’t return. His numbers are unaffected by the foot injury.

I would love to see this. I don't have an Athletic subscription. Can you cut and paste a portion of it?

I think so. Ronny may or may not ever be an effective big league player. But as far as being "ready", he's compiled over 2300 PAs in the minors, with 571 of them at the AAA level. His OPS in AAA is .887. He's 25 years old. He's as ready as he'll ever be. Like Baty before him, he's not going to learn to hit big league breaking balls by playing in Syracuse. He needs big league ABs, so the Mets can decide if he's a flop, a stud or whatever else he might end up in between.

Well the Rangers just did. And got an extra $5M on top of that. And by your argument, they didn't even have to take on a bad contract. But I'm not expecting that to happen. As I said. Best case scenario is they unload part of it. I mean, they don't need to. But the budget at some point is finite. The Nimmo trade is proof of that. Of course he's going to play. And if he's playing, he's blocking another player. That's what blocking is. And his salary is dictating that. He's going to get at least half a season to see what he's got left in the tank. I'd much rather give that to a younger player with upside, or take the known thing that is McNeil. To the extent McNeil is still on this team, he'll block him from day 1. And McNeil is a much better hitter. He'll block Ronny Mauricio as well. If McNeil were traded, we'd likely get Ronny as our opening day second baseman. Ronny has shown he's outgrown AAA. And in 2025, flaws and all, had basically the same OPS as Semien. I agree he'll block Jett the least. If Jett shows he's ready, it's likely sometime in the second half. And if Semien is struggling, I hope the Mets are ready to move on from him by then.

I think the best we can hope for is that Semien gets off to a hot start, then some contender loses their SS or 2B to injury (hopefully not the Mets) and the Mets are able to unload some portion of the contract. It's not just locking in for 500 PAs of low .600s OPS. It's blocking Jett or Ronny, or even McNeil, who will easily give you 100 points of OPS.

Pretty much across the board offensively. I was hoping to see some good splits with the hope maybe he could platoon with McNeil. But no. He sucks almost equally against rightys and lefties. .679 OPS vs. RHP. .642 OPS vs. LHP. I was wondering maybe he got off to a slow start, and then picked it up in the second half. Nah. .593 OPS in the second half. One stat that was somewhat encouraging was his home/away splits in 2025. .617 Home. .718 Away. Maybe he just hates hitting at Globe Life, which was ranked by Forbes as the second most pitcher-friendly park in 2025. But his 2024 splits take the air out of that. .703 Home. .694 Away. Fangraphs projects him at .241/.314/.399. That's a .613 OPS. On the plus side. They think he'll hit 22 HR. So that's something. Also, 3.1 WAR.

Yeah, to be clear, this is not what I'm saying should happen. This is what I'm guessing will happen. And it's just a guess, for whatever that's worth. And to be further clear, I didn't say that they would leave the spot completely open. I said they would likely sign a veteran to hold down the spot until he's ready. Like Adolis Garcia or, to answer Edgy's question, maybe McNeil is asked to cover it now that he's no longer needed at 2B. I don't see the Mets going long term on a corner OF (like Tucker) when they feel Benge is about ready to break through. The reason that I think this is because Stearns said about a million times that he's focusing on run prevention. He also mentioned that players were not being put in their optimum positions. So with someone like Benge, I'm guessing Stearns envisions him eventually settling down in RF. He also said that a good team will provide avenues for young players to contribute. So I doubt he'd sign Tucker to pair with Soto and block Benge indefinitely. Now, what I think he should do, is completely different. I haven't revisited my preferences since the Nimmo trade. But I tend to agree that a contender shouldn't go into a season depending on Benge, or Jett, or anyone else to contribute. Think of how long Baty, Alvarez and Vientos struggled. I mean, you have to let them play, but you can't count on their production. I think I would have kept Nimmo. I think he has two productive years left. Then you let him Marte out the rest of his contract. I would keep McNeil.

So rounding out my thoughts on this. They definitely wanted to move Nimmo's contract. I think they felt it was going to age poorly, and that if they didn't move it now, they'd be stuck with it until the end. I also think that Nimmo, while still productive, stood in the way of how Stearns wanted to construct this team. So he gets shipped out for another bad contract. And though bad, at least the contract is shorter, and Semien provides good defense. For now anyway. Some have speculated that this means the Mets will be in on Bellinger or Tucker. I think that could be true, but not necessarily. I think one of the main reasons this contract was moved, was because the Mets can only have so many long-term contracts bogging them down, and specifically, they didn't want Nimmo, Lindor and Alonso all aging at the same time. Right when Soto is in his prime. So part of this move was to remove an aging player from the equation. I don't know that they'd be so quick to add another aging veteran (though admittedly, Tucker is younger than the others). What I think this does, is make it more likely that we bring Pete back. We can have one aging, bad defense, home grown player. But two would have been too much. Similarly, we can have one bad defensive outfielder (Soto), but two is too many. If I had to guess, here's what I think happens next. 1. Soto moves to LF. 2. Pete gets re-signed, if the deal is 4 years or less. If it's 5, then Pete is gone. 3. I think they leave a corner OF spot open for Benge. So no Tucker, unless his market craters. More likely, we get some veteran, maybe like Adolis Garcia, who can hold it down until Benge is ready, and potentially platoon with him if Benge struggles against lefties. 4. I think they will look for a real centerfielder for the short term. Maybe Bader. Maybe Luis Robert Jr. But again, no long term commitment with an eye toward AJ Ewing hopefully taking over. Maybe Acuna gets some run there. He's playing CF in winter ball. 5. Semien gets the starting 2B job. But it's not guaranteed for long. If he continues to struggle, eventually they give that spot to Jett, or Mauricio. Or whoever is showing that they've earned it. Hopefully someone will. I think they try to move Semien whenever possible. This could be easier than moving Nimmo. Semien doesn't have a NTC. And because he was traded, 10/5 rights don't kick in. Maybe a SS gets hurt on a contender and they will see an opportunity to unload him. 6. I think they will pursue Bellinger, Okamoto, or some other veteran that will give them positional flexibility. The level of bat will depend on whether Pete comes back or not. 7. They offset the loss of offense by spending money on pitching. Run prevention. Plus the defense is a lot better. 8. If the offense struggles, or if the kids aren't showing they're ready, they will look to add a bat at the deadline.

I’m not so sure Semien will be starting as long as you suggest. I’m guessing he will be the 2B at the start of 2026, I can’t see him holding the job if he continues to struggle offensively and Jett/Ronny are forcing the issue. I think Cohen decided that Semien is more likely to give value at age 35-37 than Nimmo, but if he doesn’t than he’s willing to eat 3 years.

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.

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. 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.

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

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.