The Mets’ offseason decision to break up their core looked messy then, and it still does in spots now. Pete Alonso’s departure has already blown back on the club, but the Brandon Nimmo deal that sent him to Texas is shaping up differently. In the long view, New York may come out ahead.
For this season, though, the Mets do not get to claim victory. Marcus Semien, brought in to handle second base, has been a major letdown. He is hitting .217 with 14 home runs, 48 RBI and a .620 OPS, production that has been worth just 0.2 Wins Above Replacement because of a steep drop on defense.
Nimmo’s season in Texas has been better, even if it has not matched his best years in New York. Through 150 games with the Rangers, he is hitting .261 with 14 home runs, 61 RBI and a .734 OPS. That line has translated to 1.3 WAR, but it still trails the level he reached with the Mets the previous two seasons, when he posted 2.3 WAR in 2024 and 2.9 WAR in 2025.
The bigger picture is where the Mets start to look smarter. Nearly a full season of evidence suggests Stearns was right to move on from Nimmo when he did.
The organization may have expected a cleaner decline from Semien, but the trade also cleared space in the outfield for Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, both of whom have already emerged as pieces for the future.
At least one of those two, likely Ewing, probably would not be on the big-league roster if Nimmo were still in New York. The financial side matters too. Semien has two years left on his deal, while Nimmo is tied to Texas for four more years, through 2030.
There are warning signs in Nimmo’s game as well. He is 33 now, and the defensive decline is starting to show - not a great sign for a player under contract until age 37.
Globe Life Field has not exactly unlocked his offense, either. His counting numbers have fallen back to levels he had not reached since 2022, when a strong defensive year in center field helped him produce a career-best 5.0 WAR.
That raises the possibility that Nimmo has already peaked offensively. If that is the case, Texas could be staring at an underwater contract by 2028, the same kind of problem the Rangers faced when they moved on from Semien. The dollars in both deals are close, but New York will be done with its Semien commitment after the 2028 season, while Nimmo will still be on Texas’ books for two more years.
That extra flexibility could matter even more if the next CBA brings a salary cap into the league’s economic setup. It would give the Mets a cleaner exit from a bad deal. Even if the current system stays in place and the luxury tax gets tougher, there is value in getting out from under unwanted money before it drags on longer than necessary.
That is the real lesson here. The Mets may have been better off moving on from Nimmo a year early than a year late, even if his bat might have helped them this season with Juan Soto missing time because of injury. For the franchise’s long-term plan, though, the separation still looks like the right call.
In Other News...
Brandon Nimmo Just Reopened A Mets Debate Fans Arent Settling
Brandon Nimmos move from Queens to Texas may be in the rearview mirror, but his latest comments make it clear the discussion around his departure is still alive for Mets fans. The veteran outfielder, now with the Rangers, said he did not view his exit alongside Pete Alonsos as the front office looking for scapegoats, but as a decision rooted in what the organization believed its future should look like. Even with the change of scenery, Nimmo has been steady in Texas, while Alonso has put together a strong season in Baltimore, a reminder of how much talent still filtered out of the picture.
What makes Nimmos take land is the way he framed the current Mets beyond the breakup. He praised the clubs young outfield depth and suggested this version of the team could still be dangerous, even after another year without a playoff berth. For a fan base still sorting through what was lost and what was gained, that leaves the bigger question hanging in the air: was this really about blame, or simply about the Mets choosing a different timeline? [Read more 🡒]
Mets Front Office Search Just Took An Intriguing Turn
The Mets search for front-office help has started to widen, and one name that has surfaced is Derek Falvey, the former Twins president of baseball operations. Falvey spent nearly a decade in Minnesota and helped guide the organization through multiple postseason appearances while also pushing analytics deeper into the clubs day-to-day work, making him an obvious fit for a team that has shown interest in modernizing how it operates.
If the Mets decide to bring him aboard, Falvey would likely work either as general manager or in a consulting role under David Stearns, which would add another experienced voice to a leadership group that is still being shaped. His availability after leaving the Twins in January 2025 makes him an appealing option, but the bigger question is how far the Mets want to go in adding another layer to their front office structure. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Kept Answering In Texas As Rangers Threats Went Nowhere
The Mets opened their trip through Texas by taking advantage of what the Rangers gave them, and they did plenty with it. Defensive mistakes helped create openings, Juan Soto and Francisco Alvarez delivered RBI hits, and a productive sixth inning gave New York the separation it needed in a 6-3 win. Sean Manaea and the bullpen did their part, too, keeping the Rangers from turning their chances into a sustained threat.
For a club that has spent plenty of nights looking for timely offense, this was the kind of game that travels well. The Mets answered every early push, then kept the Rangers from building anything lasting as the middle innings wore on, leaving Texas with a result that felt controlled even when the score was close enough to invite trouble. [Read more 🡒]