Long after the crowds had dispersed and the lights had gone out at Citi Field, Brandon Nimmo always remained, signing autographs in his idling car for anyone who asked.
For a decade, this was a regular occurrence. Fans could count on Nimmo to sign hats, shirts, baseball cards and other items, as much as they could count on him to reach first base — always getting there with a full-out sprint, never a trot, even when drawing a walk. A kid from Cheyenne, Wyoming, he knew that for many, meeting a professional athlete could inspire a lifetime of fandom.
Come this season, fans will have to go all the way to Arlington, Texas, to find Nimmo. In a stunning Sunday night move, the Mets traded the outfielder to the Texas Rangers for veteran second baseman Marcus Semien.
“These are always tough decisions. This was not easy,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday. “Everyone here thinks very highly of Brandon, but in order to create the type of sustainable championship-caliber play that we seek to have here at times, these types of decisions are necessary.”
Stearns has been emphatic in his desire for better defense moving forward. Semien, a Gold Glove-winning second baseman, certainly provides strong defense, even at 35 years old. In the near term, utility man Jeff McNeil, the Mets’ primary second baseman since 2019, will move around the diamond more, playing left field and potentially even first base, according to Stearns. The two spoke about the move, with McNeil assuring the executive he wants to be part of what the Mets are building.
In the long-term, the Mets have cleared spots for emerging young outfield prospects like Carson Benge and Ryan Clifford. Nimmo has five years left on his contract and right fielder Juan Soto has 14, so there is a clearer path forward for the prospects with Nimmo in Texas.
In the the short-term, however, it’s a gamble.
Trading a fan-favorite who also held a key leadership role in the clubhouse is the kind of move that can be done only when an executive like Stearns takes his emotions out of the equation. It’s just business, they say, nothing personal. The bottom line is that winning is good for business, and the Mets, coming off a spectacularly disappointing season, are trying to win a World Series.
But ignoring relationships can sometimes be bad business. Stearns knows that if this doesn’t work out, he’ll have to wear it.
Stearns had to wear it in 2022 when, as the head of baseball operations for the Milwaukee Brewers, he traded All-Star closer Josh Hader to the San Diego Padres. At the time of the midseason trade, the Brewers had a three-game lead in the NL Central, but after, they went 29-31 to miss the postseason. He tried to balance the present and the future, succeeding only at the second part by using the prospects from San Diego to acquire talent that winter.
“It had a more pronounced impact than I thought it would at the time,” Stearns said after the 2022 season. “The surrounding moves didn’t adequately fortify the team in Josh’s absence.”
Once again, Stearns is trying to balance the short- and long-term outlook of the Mets.
“They had made it apparent that they felt like the best way to move forward for the Mets was this trade,” Nimmo told Dallas-area reporters on a Zoom call.
Stearns traded away a 25-homer player for a guy who is three years older and hit .230 last season. The Mets already have too many young infielders, including one who profiles similarly to Semien. Luisangel Acuña is a glove-first infielder who bats right-handed, but doesn’t offer much offensively.
The only way this works in the near future is if the Mets can get a legitimate bat to replace Nimmo. If the Mets let Pete Alonso walk, they’ll have even more offense they’ll need to replace. Preventing runs is crucial, but you can’t win games without scoring them. At the moment, there is a legitimate question as to where the runs are going to come from.
The leadership will continue to come from shortstop Francisco Lindor, and his new double-play partner Semien will likely add to that. A captain in Texas, Semien is a well-respected clubhouse figure who was an influential part of the Rangers’ 2023 World Series team.
“He’s a winner,” Stearns said. “He brings a winning drive and determination that we think is going to fit well in our clubhouse.”
He has to. Otherwise, the failure is on Stearns.
Cedric Mullins came to the Mets from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline with a reputation as a clubhouse leader as well, and yet that trade was a flop. Semien, who grew up in and around San Francisco, came up with the Chicago White Sox before spending much of his career with the Oakland A’s. No disrespect to Northern California, where I grew up, or to Texas, where sports are practically a religion, but playing in the shadow of the Giants and the Cowboys is much different than playing for just about any team in New York.
Nimmo knew how to play in New York. The Mets didn’t have to question it.
“Once we got into the offseason and had the time to fully reflect on our team is when I became convinced that we weren’t just going to run it back — that we were going to make some changes,” Stearns said Monday. “You never know. You’re never sure which changes are actually going to occur, which changes are actually going to be possible, and that’s still the case as we move forward.”
Maybe Stearns’ hard-hearted gamble pays off. Maybe it makes further moves possible. Then again, Stearns’ Mets thought they had answers to their questions a year ago, only to be proven wrong in September.