This Sunday, Jeff Passan dropped the news of one of the most surprising trades in recent memory. The Texas Rangers sent 2x All-MLB First Team 2B Marcus Semien to the New York Mets in exchange for Mets-lifer OF Brandon Nimmo.
Nimmo, 32, spent 10 seasons with the Mets after they drafted him in the 1st round (17th overall) of the 2011 MLB Draft. He played over 1000 games with the club.
Semien, 35, has spent the last 4 seasons with the Rangers after signing a free agent deal with the club after the 2021 season. In 13 MLB seasons, he’s accumulated 49.2 bWAR and over 1600 hits.
There’s a lot to think about with this deal, and I’ll try to explain my perception of why it went down for both sides.
Trade Details:
Rangers receive: OF Brandon Nimmo, $5 million in cash
Mets receive: 2B Marcus Semien
Why The Mets Made This Deal:
32-year-old Nimmo has been a leader within the Mets clubhouse for years now as the longest-tenured Met. After the 2022 season, he signed an 8-year, $162 million extension with the club, locking him up through 2030, his age-37 season (per Spotrac).
The Mets’ core of Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor have been playing together now since 2021. The clear lack of success aside from the 2024 run has likely been giving the front office things to worry about, considering the size of their current roster’s payroll. In 2025, the Mets’ payroll was around $342 million, according to Spotrac. Trading Nimmo for Semien (who’s due $26M in 2026 and 2027, and $20M in 2028), would upgrade the Mets’ second base situation, while lessening the years of the contract guarantees.
With Semien playing on the other side of second base to one of the best shortstops in the league, the Mets should see a tremendous boost in defensive prowess. Semien is a highly talented defensive player. Since 2021, he has the 4th most Outs Above Average (OAA, Statcast’s defensive metric) among 2B.
On the offensive side, Semien’s coming off some of the worst production in his career. The 89 wRC+ he put up in 2025 was the worst of his career. In 534 plate appearances, he totaled 15 home runs with a .230/.305/.364 slash line, all of which were below his career averages (.253/.321/.435). After getting his strikeout rate down to around 14% in 2023 and 2024, his K% shot back up to 17.4%, albeit still below his career average, while his BB% stayed around his career average 9%.
Historically, he’s a player that doesn’t see too much discrepancy in his lefty-righty splits. Semien, a right handed batter, has a 117 wRC+ against lefties and a 105 wRC+ against righties. In 2025, there was, again, not much discrepancy, but the numbers were awful: 85 wRC+ and 91 wRC+ respectively. That is well below leave average (100).
It’s not all doom and gloom for Semien’s offensive output. The last two seasons have seen BABIPs very out of the ordinary for him. A .250 BABIP in 2024 and .251 BABIP in 2025 may indicate some reason to be optimistic as he could be due for some regression to the mean and some growth in offensive production.
Semien should also be praised for his durability. In 2017, he went on the IL for a wrist injury, missing a few months. That was the only time he had been on the IL until this past season, when he fouled a ball off his left foot and dealt with a fracture in his third metatarsal bone and a sprain of his lisfranc ligament, causing him to end his season after just 127 games. A freak incident, Semien has been able to stay healthy like few others throughout his career.
As a Met, Semien will slot in at second base, where he’ll play up the middle with Lindor. It remains to be seen how the rest of the infield will shake out after free agency, but this could mean the end of Jeff McNeil’s time in New York, unless he’s kept on as a primary left fielder or utility player, filling in where needed. Brett Baty, who had spent a lot of 2025 playing second base in addition to third base, will have to be kept to strictly third base going forward. You have to wonder if this is a precursor to a potential Baty or Vientos trade. And what does this mean for other young Met infielders, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuña? The Mets also have top prospects making likely debuts next season like Jett Williams and Carson Benge, both of whom have been getting experience in the outfield.
The Mets saw an opportunity to free themselves of Nimmo’s contractual commitment AND improve on the defensive side. It is common knowledge that strong defense at second base is much more difficult to find than strong defense in a corner outfield spot. It remains to be seen if this opens the door to a potential run at free agent outfielders like Cody Bellinger or Kyle Tucker. It also remains to be seen how this affects the pursuit of retaining free agent first basemen Pete Alonso.
Why The Rangers Made This Trade:
The Rangers managed just an 81-81 season, despite having the best team ERA (3.49) in the MLB. 25th in the league, their 92 wRC+ will not cut it going forward. Globe Life Field is known as a tough park for hitters, but a team with such a great pitching staff and top players should be playing better than .500 baseball, in my opinion.
One player that has struggled at the plate for them was 2B Marcus Semien. Right off the bat, we can connect those dots. On top of Semien, their outfield struggled to produce, contributing just a 95 wRC+. Enter Brandon Nimmo.
Nimmo is 3 years younger than Semien and will enter his age-33 season as a productive hitter from the left side. In 155 games and 652 plate appearances in 2025, Nimmo had a 114 wRC+ with a slash line of .262/.324/.436, totaling a .760 OPS (114 OPS+). His on-base percentage of .324 is significantly down from his career .364 line. A good chunk of that can be attributed to his 7.7% BB%, way down from where he’s been throughout his career (12.0% BB%).
Nimmo’s grown into more of a power threat as his career has progressed. In 2025, he hit a career-high 25 home runs and drove in a career-high 92 RBI. Complementing this shift have been the increases in Hard Hit% and Barrel%, as well as his increase in average exit velocity. He’s become more aggressive at the dish, swinging more (and missing more) instead of relying on the eye and discipline he showed earlier in his career. It’s unclear if the Rangers will try to guide him back to his old ways or if they’ll allow him to control his approach at the plate as he has been. Either way, we’re talking about an above-average hitter in a corner outfield spot, something many teams will take.
Nimmo has been, and continues to be, above average against both left-handed and right-handed pitchers. His 2025 split against lefties was 107 wRC+, a bit down from his career 115 wRC+ versus lefties. Against righties, his 117 wRC+ in 2025 was also a little down from his career 130 wRC+ against righties. Despite those numbers being slightly down, Nimmo still has the ability to hit any type of pitcher for contact and for power.
Defensively, Nimmo is average, according to Baseball Savant and Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-1 OAA), however he’s been a reliable set-and-forget for the Mets for years now. His best defensive seasons are behind him but he can play all 3 outfield spots well. He should slot in for the Rangers in left or right field, replacing the non-tendered Adolís Garcia, while adding a left-handed bat to their lineup.
The Rangers could simply slot in a guy who saw some second base time this past year, Josh Smith. They also have one of the top prospects in baseball, shortstop Sebastian Walcott, coming up soon.
In sum, the Rangers are trying to navigate a retooling of their offensive roster. With such a great pitching staff, this team has the opportunity to be strong going into next year, and adding Nimmo could potentially provide a spark to a team that desperately needs it. It also lowers the amount of money owed annually, as Nimmo’s annual salary is about $6 million less than Semien’s.
Final Thoughts:
The Mets are taking a risk with this trade. The first risk is the risk of breaking up a core that has played together for years and enjoyed doing so. The second risk is taking on a player (1) that is more costly to the league’s luxury tax system in the present and (2) has struggled at the plate for two years now. If the Mets get the best version of Semien, I think the team can reasonably expect a .250, 25-HR hitter that plays plus defense up the middle. They would only be accountable for him for the next three years versus Nimmo’s five years. This gives them an opportunity to bring in a free agent corner outfield bat or promote a top prospect sooner than later.
For the Rangers, it signals a willingness to improve offensively. The pitching is there: deGrom, Leiter, Rocker, Eovaldi. Nimmo brings leadership, a strong left-handed bat and a solid glove. Their tax hit lessens, and gives them more room to pursue free agents if they decide to go that route. They have potential Semien replacements either up or on the way. I think the Rangers could use this as a launchpad to place themselves further in the playoff picture for 2026.
One-for-one swaps are very rare in baseball, especially swaps of two contracts as big as these. Time will tell who “wins” this trade, but both teams address a need to take the next step forward in 2026.
Inner Half 