The Mets journey to remake themselves has begun
In the aftermath of trading Brandon Nimmo, there's a lot of buzz around the Mets looking to trade off parts and add big new ones as the off-season starts to take shape.
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets reportedly traded OF Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for 2B Marcus Semien on Sunday night (story)
New York agreed to a one-year, $3.8 million contract with OF Tyrone Taylor, avoiding arbitration
Roster Moves 📰
Did not tender contracts for 2026 to Max Kranick, José Castillo, Danny Young - all are now free agents
Signed LHP Jodarlin Pérez to a minor league contract
Injury Updates 🏥
INF Luisangel Acuña left his Venezuelan Winter League game on Saturday after being hit by a pitch in his forearm. No further updates have been provided.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In an emergency live stream edition of The Just Mets Podcast, Rich MacLeod & Andrew Claudio share their instant reactions to the Mets trading Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers in exchange for Marcus Semien.
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A lot of moving parts for the Mets right now ✍️
In a report for ESPN last week, Jeff Passan wrote that the Mets are entertaining all sorts of ideas to transform a roster that grossly underperformed its payroll to the tune of an 83-79 record and a trip home on the final day of the regular season.
There was a lot to unpack, consider, deduct, and guesstimate from Passan’s report on where the Mets would ideally like to go over the next two-and-a-half months in the external marketplaces, especially now that the Mets made what seems like an unpopular, albeit potentially necessary move to trade Brandon Nimmo to the Rangers for Marcus Semien on Sunday evening.
First off, the Nimmo trade backs up Passan’s take that the Mets intend to shake up their roster and their core specifically. That was made clear by this move regardless of what comes next.
Second, Passan says the Mets will be in on OF Kyle Tucker’s free agency, the best free agent position player available. Before the Mets moved Nimmo to the Rangers, there wasn’t a clear path for the Mets to sign Tucker. But that calculus changed on Sunday and became something far more realistic than it was before. Tucker is a right fielder at this point in his career, having not played centerfield since 2021. He was about average to slightly below defensively in 2025 but has historically been above average out there, which would be an upgrade over either Nimmo or Juan Soto from a defensive perspective in either corner.
As I said, before I thought this was a long shot. But that was because the Mets had to move Nimmo in order for there to be a path forward in Tucker’s free agency, and with Nimmo holding a full no-trade clause with five years and $100 million left on his deal as a lifelong Met who committed to this organization before the 2023 season for the rest of his career, it just didn’t seem possible. The Mets got an equally difficult contract back to absorb in Semien for the Rangers (the Mets are reportedly sending $5 million to Texas in this deal), but it’s for a shorter duration than Nimmo.
Don’t get me wrong - I’d love for the Mets to sign Tucker, but in the end, Cody Bellinger might be a better fit, and he isn’t exactly a perfect fit either, and I’ll believe he’s leaving the Yankees and that ballpark when I see it. But he can play all three outfield positions and first base as well.
The thing I never understood about this transformation for Nimmo though is, he was a much better hitter when he was more on-base and hit for less power. Sure, he’s producing 20 home run, 90 RBI seasons now, but there are a lot of empty at-bats in between and he’s producing the same, if not lower slugging percentages and on-base percentages which are 40 points below his career mark in the process.
Case in point, Nimmo has produced a .244/.326/.418 line over his last two seasons. Yes, he’s averaged 24 home runs and 91 RBI during that span, compared to 20 home runs and 64 RBI per 162 games over the previous four seasons. But, he had a .278/.377/.451 line during that previous span.
So, yeah, the quest to hit for more power hasn’t exactly worked and he isn’t going to a ballpark known to play to the hitter’s advantage.
Anyway, Passan also writes that the Mets might be interested in trading Brett Baty, which I found interesting and opportunistic at the same time. As we all know by now, they are interested in moving Jeff McNeil and Mark Vientos, but also Luisangel Acuña, whom David Stearns recently and conveniently talked up to the media at the GM Meetings a couple of weeks ago.
I think we can all agree that Baty restored some amount of faith that he can be a quality major leaguer going forward. He was fantastic in the second half in 2025, was generally a plus defender despite a so-so arm. But if I am reading the tea leaves correctly here, the front office’s willingness to shop Baty suggests they’d like to see if they can sell high on his second half, which stands to reason considering how difficult things were up until this point for him. Over the years, teams have expressed varying degrees of interest in acquiring Baty despite his struggles, but the Mets always ended up holding onto him in the end. None of this means another team will bite, and the industry might think a few good months from Baty in 2025 might be nothing more than fool’s gold. But it can’t hurt to try, and if they do find some interest, they should pursue it.
Let’s say the Mets can find a taker for Baty, and they can jettison McNeil from the roster as well in one form or another. That opens up even more possibilities for this roster, doesn’t it? They could attract someone like Alex Bregman, who is a plus defender, strong clubhouse presence, and a contact bat as a free agent. Perhaps that would create some interest from Bo Bichette as well at third base?
The Mets can always keep Baty in theory and sign Bregman or Bichette too, but Bregman to me would be the more likely target since he could go to third as the better defender. With Semien here, it wouldn’t be entirely clear how Baty would fit if they signed one of Bregman or Bichette. But certainly Semien and Bregman would make it more comfortable to have Pete Alonso’s defense at first base, at least in the short-term or in a part-time situation. This also creates a path for Carson Benge and/or Jett Williams to the big leagues whether they execute this strategy or not.
As for Vientos, my gut says he won’t be on the roster on Opening Day. But that’s also contingent upon the Mets finding these replacement solutions, which, in a way, they might’ve already done with Semien in the fold, especially since he is right-handed. I think another condition for this is the Mets retaining Alonso, who still seems to only have one other legit fit on paper in Boston, at least as of right now. That was generally the case last winter, except he was coming off a lesser season tagged with a qualifying offer. The Phillies are an unnatural fit with Bryce Harper now in his 30s at first base - it would seem unlikely they’d move him back to the outfield now to create room for Alonso. The Reds theoretically have a spot, but they’d have to go into uncharted territory with a contract to get Alonso (for them, of course).
But if the Mets don’t retain Alonso, that might create a path for Vientos to survive the winter with the Mets no matter what else they do, simply because there’s no natural alternative to Alonso in free agency now that Josh Naylor is off the board. So, even if they sign Bellinger as a moonlighting first baseman instead of Alonso, that creates an opportunity for Vientos even in a part-time role. And certainly, if they keep Alonso and sign someone to play another infield position such as Bichette, Bregman, or someone else who is unquestionably better defensively, that would leave Vientos and Mauricio likely on the outside looking in, with Mauricio tagged for the minor leagues and Vientos off the roster since he’s out of options.
Make no mistake - I don’t think the Mets are better with Vientos over Alonso and the Mets rolling the dice on his defense specifically at this point. Stearns has said repeatedly over the first two months of the off-season that they intend to improve their defense this winter. Quite frankly, Vientos was a key part of that problem in 2025, and 2024 for that matter, but he hit in 2024 which made him more valuable.
So was Alonso, but there’s no debating the value Alonso brings with his offense. Vientos was unplayable for most of the year and he would’ve likely been in the minors mid-year if they could’ve sent him there.
I personally don’t think there’s a viable path for the Mets with Vientos here at this point - he just seems like a good change-of-scenery candidate. And with Semien now here, that probably spells even more trouble for Vientos, even if Semien is more expensive and is a diminishing offensive player. The contrast in defense alone makes Vientos less valuable here, and Vientos is simply counterintuitive to the Mets’ renewed rostering strategy.
The other fascinating takeaway is that the Mets are interested in Devin Williams. But that is not instead of signing Edwin Díaz. Rather, it’s interest in having both.
Williams’ struggles as the Yankees closer in 2025 weren’t exactly an underdiscussed issue around here. He was arguably a bust for them with his 4.79 ERA and curious ineffectiveness, specifically early on in the season. So, there are legitimate questions as to whether or not New York is the market for him and his free agency.
But, while his surface stats were unsightly, his peripheral stats remained elite despite a decrease in velocity from 2024, most notably his 2.68 FIP, which was more than two runs lower than his actual ERA. Yeah, bad luck was a big deal for him in 2025. If you’re a believer in that, then there’s no reason to think Williams won’t look like Williams with his frisbee change-up making hitters look silly again in 2026.
Imagine if the Mets could have Díaz and that version of Williams? There’s the Mets’ favorite word, IF, but that is a tantalizing prospect to consider.
Now, the question is, would Williams join the Mets as a setup man? With his peripherals holding steady in large measure year over year, I sincerely doubt he is selling himself as an eighth-inning arm at this stage of the off-season. But, what if the Mets offered him fair market value for a closer but as a setup man? Maybe that’s where the Mets are thinking right now.
There are a lot of moving parts here, and it’s not all going to go down like this. But the Mets are clearly thinking about ways to clear out some of their dead weight in an effort to pave the way for players who can help solve their deficiencies. They’re not going to plug all of their holes - some of those holes will need to be filled by people who are already here, others from within the organization by their prospects they’re trying to create a runway for.
But one thing’s for sure - there’s no signal of a rebuild here despite a lot of this surrounding a dismantling of the current roster. It’s not as if the Mets are willing to let Alonso and Díaz go, and they want to get rid of Nimmo and McNeil to pave the way for an all-prospect roster. It’s clear they have big and bold ideas to make the roster better for 2026, and like I said, not all of these changes can or will be executed. But changes are coming, and I think good ones at that, even with some difficult and unpopular decisions in between, like the one made last night.
Around the League 🚩
OF Adolis García and C Jonah Heim were among those who were not tendered contracts ahead of Friday night’s deadline - they are all now free agents and can sign with any team without clearing waivers (MLB.com)
Former Met C James McCann agreed to a one-year contract with the Diamondbacks (ESPN)
RHP Phil Maton agreed to a two-year contract with the Cubs with a third year option (Athletic)
Brady Anderson is joining the Angels coaching staff for 2026 (OC Register)