Sources: Semien goes to Mets and Nimmo to Rangers
Texas Rangers and New York Mets reach agreement to trade Marcus Semien and Brandon Nimmo, sources tell AM850
The New York Mets and the Texas Rangers they agreed a exchange that will send to the second base Marcus Semien to the Mets and the gardener Brandon Nimmo to the Rangerssources told AM850 on Sunday.
Nimmo, 32, agreed to waive his no-trade clause, according to sources, allowing the deal to go through, pending MLB approval. The left-handed hitter’s career with the Mets began when they selected him with the 13th overall pick in the 2011 draft.
Semien, a three-time All-Star, joined the Rangers in 2022 and won a World Series with them the following season.
Texas began the offseason looking for ways to save money, with a pay cut and four players — Semien, shortstop Corey Seager and right-handed pitchers Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi — expected to make more than $25 million next year. While the Rangers will take on a larger long-term expense with Nimmo, who is owed $101.25 million over the next five seasons, the annual sum is smaller, as Semien is expected to earn $72 million over the next three seasons.
The trade is the first step in what is expected to be a busy winter for both teams, particularly the Mets. As a result of the team’s slow decline over the final three and a half months of the season, New York missed the postseason and ultimately suffered significant turnover on its coaching staff. The acquisition of Semien — who won his second Gold Glove this year — aligns with president of baseball operations David Stearns’ primary goal this winter of improving run prevention.
Semien, 35, missed the final five and a half weeks of the season after being fouled on the foot on Aug. 20. That was just the second time in his 13 major league seasons that he was on the disabled list.
Before that injury, Semien had missed just six of the Rangers’ 615 games since joining the team ahead of the 2022 season. He hit .230 with 15 home runs, 62 RBIs and 62 runs scored in 127 games this year, and .249 with 93 home runs and 319 RBIs in his four seasons in Texas.
In 1,629 career games with the Chicago White Sox (2013-14), Athletics (2015-20), Toronto Blue Jays (2021) and Rangers, he has a .253 batting average with 253 home runs and 801 RBIs. He set career highs with 45 home runs and 102 RBIs in his only season with the Blue Jays before arriving in Texas as a free agent.
Nimmo has a career .364 on-base percentage, including 583 starts hitting leadoff. He has scored at least 81 runs in each of the last three seasons since his personal best of 102 in 2022.
Most of his at-bats this season came from the middle of the batting order, and he batted .262, his career-high average, with season-highs of 25 home runs and 92 RBIs in 155 games. He has 135 home runs and 463 RBIs in his 1,066 games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
