In a transaction that became official Monday, the Mets, Rangers and Brandon Nimmo all made trades.
Nimmo, who owned a no-trade clause, was willing to trade what might have become Mets immortality for what he feels is a real chance at a World Series with a team that wants him and is three seasons removed from lifting the trophy.
Sure, he said, he liked his odds of winning in Queens, but David Stearns had made it clear to him that Stearns felt the Mets’ best chances at a title involved this Nimmo-for-Marcus Semien swap being completed.
If Nimmo vetoed the trade, he essentially would be hurting the Mets’ own title odds.
If he accepted, he would be helping both sides.
Nimmo had played 1,066 games with the Mets, ranking 11th in franchise history with another five seasons left on his contract.
Brandon Nimmo is now a member of the Texas Rangers. Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
His on-base percentage (.364) is sixth highest among Mets with at least 3,000 plate appearances.
His 135 home runs rank ninth.
So his last favor to a team for which he granted many was accepting a trade that might boost both teams’ championship hopes while trading away the possibility of his further ascent up the Mets record books.
“There’s a solid chance that if I stay healthy, if I just kept producing, that there’s a chance that it would have been me and David Wright [who] would have been pretty much the only ones that had started and finished with the Mets,” Nimmo told reporters over a Zoom on Monday. “And I could have had a pretty good chance of having the number in the rafters.
“But that’s not what it all means to me. I would honestly rather win a World Series.”
In his first public comments since a trade that he said was a “shock,” Nimmo showed the same grace he had become known for and which the Mets will miss.
Stearns called Nimmo on Thursday to inform him about the trade possibility.
Nimmo learned the only thing holding up the proceedings was his own consent.
His one request: a bit of time.
Friday was his daughter Tatum’s first birthday.
The family celebrated during the day, and Friday night began the discussions.
Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young (l.) AP
“I pretty much got on the phone from that night until basically Sunday afternoon,” said Nimmo, who added that he talked with Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young for about an hour and a half.
Young told him that Nimmo would not be entering a rebuild after a rough 2025 season but a “restructuring” and that he was “extremely wanted.”
Jacob deGrom had “amazing things to say about the Rangers” and talked optimistically about their championship hopes.
Stearns, for his part, told Nimmo that he was not being actively shopped but that the interest from the Rangers was strong.
Nimmo had been a Met since being drafted out of a Wyoming high school in the first round in 2011, and had been a major leaguer in Queens since 2016 and the longest-tenured player in the organization, popular in the clubhouse and with the fan base.
He had literally constructed his life to help the team win, as evidenced by his just-completed house in Port St. Lucie.
The Rangers hold spring training in Arizona.
“[The house] was meant to host, and it was meant to have spring training parties and team get-togethers,” Nimmo told reporters. “And so we had kind of built this life centered around that we were going to be New York Mets until the very end.
“And so, there was a lot of logistical things that we had to try and get over those hurdles.”
He heard enough to waive the no-trade clause and upend his life to join a team that wanted him and wanted to win.
He compared his role with the one that Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson and Wright once held in his life, as a mentor to what will be a young Texas outfield.
“Brandon represented our organization with heart, grit and passion,” Steve and Alex Cohen said in a statement. “He embodied everything that it meant to be a Met on and off the field. We are grateful for everything he gave to our team and community. We wish Brandon, [wife] Chelsea and Tatum all the best.”
The Rangers will host the Mets in September and are not scheduled to visit Citi Field next year.
There is little doubt about the reception awaiting Nimmo whenever he returns.
“There really are no words to fully express the all-encompassing love and support that I always felt from the New York Mets fan base,” Nimmo said. “Whatever the results were, they always appreciated the way that I went about the game, the way that I hustled, and the person that I was. And that will never go away.
“It was 14 years that I spent in the Mets organization developing relationships. There are fans that I met in 2011 that I still interacted with all the way up to the end of last year. It’s something that I will definitely miss. It’s one part of my life and a chapter that is over, and that’s always sad. I will always remember the Mets fans fondly.”
