Sources: The Rangers and Mets have reached an agreement to trade Marcos Semien and Brandon Nimmo
The New York Mets and Texas Rangers have agreed to a deal that would send second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets and outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
Nimmo, 32, has agreed to waive his no-trade clause, allowing the deal to be completed, pending MLB approval, sources said. The left-handed hitter’s tenure 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 entered the offseason looking for areas to save money, with its salaries cut and four players — Semien, shortstop Corey Seager, right-handers Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi — set to make more than $25 million next year. While the Rangers will actually get more long-term money on Nimmo, who is due $101.25 million over the next five seasons, the annual amount is less, with Semien set to make $72 million for the next three seasons.
The trade is the first step in what is expected to be a busy winter for both teams — especially 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 eventually underwent major changes to 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.
The 35-year-old Semien missed the final 5 1/2 weeks of this season, and did not play again after fouling a pitch off his foot on August 20. It was only the second time in his 13 major league seasons that he was on the injured list.
Before that injury, Semien had missed just six of the Rangers’ 615 games since joining them before the 2022 season. He’s hitting .230 with 15 homers, 62 RBIs and 62 runs scored in 127 games this year, and .249 with 93 homers and 319 RBIs in his four seasons at Texas.
In 1,629 career games with the White Sox (2013-14), Athletics (2015-20), Blue Jays (2021) and Rangers, he has a .253 batting average with 253 homers and 801 RBIs. He set career highs with 45 homers and 102 RBIs in his only season with the Blue Jays before going to Texas in free agency.
Nimmo has a .364 on-base percentage, including 583 starts as a leadoff hitter. He has scored at least 81 points in each of the past three seasons since scoring a career-best 102 points in 2022.
Most of his hits this season have been from the middle of the batting order, hitting .262 — the same as his career average — with single-season highs of 25 homers and 92 RBIs in 155 games. He has 135 homers and 463 RBIs in 1,066 games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.