The day after being traded from the only team he’s ever known as a professional, Brandon Nimmo discussed how he’s feeling after being dealt from the Mets to the Rangers.
“It took me as a shock,” Stearns told reporters, including Newsday’s Laura Albanese, via Zoom.
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Noting that he and his wife, Chelsea, had just finished building a house in Port St. Lucie where the Mets have spring training, Nimmo said he thought he was going to be with the Mets “until the very end.”
“I could have had a pretty good chance of having a number in the rafters, but that’s not what it all means to me,” Nimmo explained. “I would honestly rather win a World Series.”
Nimmo added that Stearns approached him with the trade, and he understood that the team felt this was the best way for them to move forward. After thinking it over, Nimmo — who had a full no-trade clause — approved the deal.
“The Mets would not have brought this trade if they didn’t feel like it put the Mets in the best position to win going forward,” Nimmo said. “They made it very apparent that they weren’t actively shopping me but that the Rangers really, really, really wanted me.”
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When he re-signed with the Mets on an eight-year contract following the 2022 season, Nimmo discussed his excitement about the prospect of potentially never having to take his Mets jersey off again.
But following a season where the Mets went from being the best team in baseball in June to all the way out of the playoffs, president of baseball operations David Stearns — who had his own news conference right around the time Nimmo had his — said it would not have been right to simply run it back.
And the Nimmo trade was possibly the first of numerous big changes for New York this offseason.
In addition to addressing his Mets departure via Zoom, Nimmo also posted a farewell message on Instagram, writing:
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“To the fans I’ll always hold near and dear: There is truly no way I could adequately put into words how much my tenure with the Mets has meant to me. All I can say is thank you. Thank you Mets fans for embracing and welcoming a kid from Cheyenne, Wyoming to the Big Apple. I always aspired to become a big leaguer – I never knew I’d have the opportunity to accomplish that dream in a city so wildly passionate about the game of baseball. The last 14 years have felt like a dream, and it has been an absolute honor to share them with you. You made me feel like family, and I hope you felt the same. I will always be grateful for our time and memories together. With love, always.”
Nimmo, who was drafted by the Mets in 2011 and made his big league debut in 2016, was a stalwart for the club over the last decade.
In 4,365 plate appearances in 1,066 games for New York, Nimmo slashed .262/.364/.438 (.802 OPS) with 135 home runs, 188 doubles, 32 triples, 593 runs scored, and 463 RBI.
