Trading Brandon Nimmo For Marcus Semien Is Not About Sentiment For The New York Mets And Texas Rangers

About an hour after the New York Giants became the first team in the NFL to get eliminated from postseason contention, there was news pertaining to another disappointing New York team.

The news came in the form of a series of tweets stating the New York Mets traded Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for Marcus Semien.

It was one of those rare one for one swaps of established veterans and one of those deals where sentiment goes out the window at least in terms of David Stearns, who used the word run prevention numerous times at a season-ending press conference.

Stearns spoke in those terms on Sept. 29, which is way earlier than anyone thought but he was speaking about it and hinting at changes without naming names on the same day the Cincinnati Reds prepared for their wild-card series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On the surface, this kind of trade is a change of scenery type move and given Nimmo’s 14-year association with the Mets, the sentiment is understandable for someone friendly to anyone he encounters whether it is fans or media seeking further clarity on various inquiries.

The sentiment went out the window when the Mets officially finished an 83-79 season with an estimated payroll of $340 million that comes with a roughly $90 million luxury tax bill.

Nimmo is three years into contributing to the big payroll by playing three seasons of his $162 million, eight-year contract upon hitting free agency for the first time following a much more successful regular season but disappointing postseason in 2022.

Nimmo’s trade is hardly the first time in the history of New York sports a sentimental player was moved.

Across town, the Yankees made one of those types of deals in a different era. After the 1974 season and their first at Shea Stadium, the Yankees moved Bobby Murcer to the San Francisco Giants for Bobby Bonds. Murcer completed his age-28 season by struggling with the hitting conditions at Shea while Bonds was coming off a third straight season with at least 40 steals.

In his lone season with the Yankees, Bonds batted .270 with 32 homers and 85 RBIs and 30 steals while Murcer played well with the Giants, joined the Cubs and rejoined the Yankees in 1979 when he got the game-winning hit off Tippy Martinez in the game after Thurman Munson’s funeral.

Bonds did well enough to net the Yankees two key players for the championship teams by getting traded to the Angels for Ed Figueroa and Mickey Rivers.

Of course the ultimate sentimental trades for New York baseball fans occurred about 20 years apart.

After the 1956 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded Jackie Robinson to the hated New York Giants.

Robinson was 37 at the time of the trade and coming off hitting .275 and helping the Dodgers reach the World Series for the sixth time in his 11-year career. After the trade was announced Robinson decided to retire instead of playing for the Giants in their final season in New York.

In 1977, Tom Seaver’s relationship with the Mets was reaching a boiling point, especially with chairman of the board M. Donald Grant. It ended when Seaver was traded to the Reds for four players and the Mets did not start winning again until 1984.

As for the present, the Mets are hoping Semien can contribute to their next really successful team and his track record says it is possible as he enters his age-36 season and he is a two-time Gold Glove winner acquired for a player, whose defense started to slip in left field.

Semien hit 45 homers in his one season with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021 and his production netted him a $175 million, seven-year contract as part of a double play pairing with Corey Seager, who may be on the move.

Semien batted .276 with 29 homers and 100 RBIs in 2023 when the Rangers won their first World Series title. He dropped to .237 in 2024 and finished at .230 with 15 homers and 62 RBIs last season when his season ended with a foot injury.

Texas moving on from him also is an example of not letting sentiment get in the way. While he was not a homegrown player with over a decade in the Texas, he was a contributor to a title team but recent moves show sentiment is out the window as the Rangers also non-tendered Adolis Garcia, Jonah Heim and Josh Sborz, who got the last out of the World Series after Garcia’s massive postseason helped them get to the Fall Classic.

And there seems to be evidence of sentiment possibly being ignored, especially if Pete Alonso signs elsewhere. The Mets seemed lukewarm about it last season until agreeing to a two-year deal that paid him $27 million last season and contained an opt-out.

This occurred shortly before pitchers and catchers reported and followed a year where he hit the go-ahead homer in the ninth inning of the wild-card series in Milwaukee against Devin Williams. The statement from ownership contained the words “homegrown talent” and “adored”, and would likely do so again should the Mets bring him back but if trading someone as beloved as Nimmo can happen, so can the Mets being content with letting their all-time home run hitter sign elsewhere.