The New York Mets claimed they wanted to improve their team defense this offseason, and they took a big step towards doing that on Sunday, acquiring 2025 Gold Gove second baseman Marcus Semien from the Rangers for outfielder Brandon Nimmo.
The trade still needs to be approved by Major League Baseball, but it appears to be a one-for-one trade for now. The deal was also contingent on Nimmo waiving his no-trade clause, but it’s been reported that Nimmo did do that to facilitate the trade.
Why would the Mets make this trade?
Semien, 35, is coming off one of the worst offensive seasons of his career and is due $72 million over the next three years. In that sense, you can see why the Rangers wanted to move on from Semien, but perhaps not why the Mets wanted to acquire him.
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Semien has now seen his offensive production decline in each of the last two seasons in terms of power production, contact rate, and swinging strike rate. Over the last two seasons, he’s been challenged with far more sinkers and cutters, and pitchers appear to be effectively getting in on his hands. His infield fly ball rate, which was 7.6% in 2023 and 8.5% in 2022, skyrocketed to 13.8% in 2024 and 13.1% in 2025.
Semien is still making above-average contact overall and has remained consistent with a barrel rate around 6.6%, so there is an argument that he could be closer to a .250 hitter with 15+ home runs and 10+ steals. While that is not exciting on the surface, it’s better than what he produced last year.
However, the reason the Mets wanted to make this deal is for defensive purposes. Semien still produced an Outs Above Average of 7 last season and remains a solid defender at second base. Semien would be a significant improvement there on players like Jeff McNeil or Brett Baty and would create a strong double play combo up the middle with shortstop Francisco Lindor. The deal also removes Nimmo from the outfield, where he posted a -1 Outs Above Average on the season, and allows the Mets to improve their outfield defense as well.
It seems that the Mets were happy to take an offensive hit for the potential defensive gain. The club also has more flexibility for their offseason plans for the outfield, which again, could be an upgrade to Nimmo defensively.
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Why would the Rangers make this trade?
Offensively speaking, Nimmo was clearly superior to Semien last year. He hit .262/.324/.436 with 25 home runs and 13 steals. It seems likely that the Rangers would use Nimmo as their primary left fielder, which means he’d be replacing the non-tendered Adolis Garcia, who posted a .227/.271/.394 line last year with 19 home runs and a 24.7% strikeout rate. That’s an improvement in almost all facets.
The Rangers could also choose to use Nimmo at designated hitter and play Alejandro Osuna in the outfield with Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter.
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Nimmo is due $102.5 million over the next five seasons, which is a significant contract for the Rangers to take on, but they clearly believe Nimmo is a better fit at the top of their lineup than Semien.
What’s the fantasy baseball impact?
It’s hard to see much of a change for Semien. He goes from hitting at the top of a good lineup in a pitcher’s park to hitting atop a good lineup in a modest pitcher’s park. Yes, in some respects, Citi Field is better for right-handed hitters, but in terms of just hits for right-handed hitters, Globe Life Field ranked 23rd and Citi Field ranked 26th, according to Statcast Park Factors. Citi Field does rank 7th for right-handed pull power, but Globe Life was 10th, so, again, it’s just a modest upgrade. If anything, you’d wonder if the fresh start gives him a mild boost.
Same goes for Nimmo. Citi Field and Globe Life are nearly identical in park factors for left-handed hitters. Globe Life does rank 12th for left-handed pull power while Citi Field ranks 16th, so it’s a mild improvement. However, you could make the argument that the Rangers’ lineup is slightly worse than the Mets.
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At the end of the day, I wouldn’t approach either one of these players much differently in fantasy than you were planning to two days ago.
