The New York Mets and Texas Rangers are in agreement on a trade that will send outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Texas and second baseman Marcus Semien to New York, according to ESPN. The exact terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed. Additionally, neither team has officially announced the trade.
Why the deal makes sense for the Mets
One of the offseason goals for David Stearns, New York’s president of baseball operations, was to improve the club’s defense. The Mets allowed the eighth-highest batting average on balls in play last season and they ranked 19th in Statcast’s fielding runs value metric. It’s fair, then, to describe them as being closer to a bottom-third than a top-third unit — something Stearns recently acknowledged.
“We’re going to need our current group of players to play better defense,” he said earlier this month. “The brand of baseball that we played over the last two months of the season wasn’t close to good enough.”
Acquiring Semien and shedding Nimmo should help in that pursuit on a few levels since it means installing a better defender at two of the four up-the-middle positions.
Semien, 35, is coming off a relatively down season at the plate that saw him hit .230/.305/.364 with 15 home runs. His 97 OPS+ was his lowest mark since 2020 and his lowest in a full-length campaign since 2018. That slippage offensively did not prevent him from notching 3-plus Wins Above Replacement in a seventh consecutive full-length season.
That speaks to Semien’s quality keystone defense. He’s averaged 11 fielding runs over past three seasons, making him an upgrade over incumbent second baseman Jeff McNeil, himself a subject of recent trade rumors. It stands to reason that Semien is the plan at second base for 2026 and beyond.
On that last note: Semien is under contract through the 2028 campaign. He’ll make $26 million apiece both next season and the year after. He’ll then earn $20 million in the contract’s final season. That puts his remaining terms at three seasons and $72 million.
Subtracting Nimmo, whose outfield defense had slipped, should allow the Mets to make room for better defenders on the grass. Already this winter, Stearns has already said top prospect Carson Benge will have an opportunity to win the center field starting gig next spring.
Alternatively, the Mets could attempt to add a strong defender through trade or free agency. Cody Bellinger, former Met Harrison Bader, and Mike Yastrzemski are three of the top free-agent outfield defenders.
| Year | Semien salary | Nimmo salary |
|---|---|---|
|
2026 |
$26 million |
$20.25 million |
|
2027 |
$26 million |
$20.25 million |
|
2028 |
$20 million |
$20.25 million |
|
2029 |
— |
$20.25 million |
|
2030 |
— |
$20.25 million |
|
Total |
$72 million |
$101.25 million |
Why the deal makes sense for the Rangers
On the Rangers end, they’re getting a younger player (by more than two years) who is coming off a better offensive season and who will cost $6 million less in 2026 — something that matters given Texas’s stated desire to trim payroll. (Nimmo is under contract for two additional seasons, making him more expensive overall.) The Rangers ranked 22nd in runs scored and 25th in park-adjusted offense in 2025. Nimmo should help improve that.
Nimmo, 32, batted .262/.324/.436 last season with a career-best 25 home runs. He stole more than a dozen bases for the second consecutive year, too. Nimmo has tallied 2 or more Wins Above Replacement in each of the last five seasons. His public-facing defensive metrics suggest he’s average or a hair below and that he should probably be relegated to corner-outfield duty.
The Rangers non-tendered longtime outfielder Adolis García on Friday, creating an opening in their outfield next to Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford. (Joc Pederson opted in to his contract and figures to continue starting most days at designated hitter.)
Moving Semien creates a pathway for another player to step in at the keystone. The most obvious internal candidate is utility player Josh H. Smith. Keep in mind that the Rangers also have one of the sport’s best infield prospects in shortstop Sebastian Walcott on the cusp of breaking into the bigs.
Nimmo is under contract through the 2030 season for $20.25 million annually. That puts his remaining terms at five years and just over $101 million.
