Elephant Rumblings: Former Athletic Marcus Semien Traded to Mets, Nimmo to Rangers

SB Nation

Good morning everyone and happy Monday!

Over the weekend the A’s were quiet, not announcing any deals or making any trades. The club did add to their depth with the recent signings but we are also still

waiting for some confirmation regarding reliever Nick Anderson and catcher Abrahan Gutierrez. There’s no reason to suspect these deals aren’t going to get done but let’s make it official guys, come on. Other than those deals the team has been quiet but you can be sure there’s discussions going on behind the scenes right this moment.

Elsewhere around the league things have been mostly quiet as well. That is, until late yesterday afternoon when the second big trade of the winter happened. After seeing a division rival in Los Angeles trade a starting outfielder in Taylor Ward for a young, promising but injured arm in Grayson Rodriguez, it was the Texas Rangers’ turn to make some moves.

Not waiting long after non-tendering former All-Star outfielder Adolis Garcia, The Rangers and Mets lined up a trade for a couple high-priced veterans. In a 1-for-1 swap involving some big money on both ends, the teams are exchanging outfielder Brandon Nimmo from the Mets in exchange for former Athletic Marcus Semien, who is now set to play for his fifth team:

That’s quite the salary-swap right there. Nimmo, a former 13th overall pick by the Mets, is owed another $101 million over the next five years. He’ll be departing the only organization that he’s ever known though it’s not as much of a shock after recent rumors indicated he could be a trade candidate. He was still good for the Mets this past season, hitting 25 home runs while playing a solid left field in New York. That’s where he’s ticketed to play for Texas for the next few seasons so get used to seeing more of him against the Athletics. He’s hit .333/.438/.564 with a pair of homers in 10 career games against the A’s.

On the other end of the trade is Semien. It’s now been five years since he donned the Green & Gold and he’s only finally begun to slow down offensively. 2025 was his first blow-average season since 2020 and he’s about to enter his age-35 campaign. Like Nimmo he’s also leaving an organization that he’s called home for a while but is also joining a team that is a consistently big spender in free agency and came close to the playoffs last season. He just won the AL Gold Glove so he’s still a premium defender that Texas will miss on the field, and he’ll now pair up with perennial All-Star Francisco Lindor for the next three seasons in New York.

Maybe a change of scenery was best for everyone involved. Nimmo seemed to always feel expendable for the Mets even though he’s been one of their most consistent players. And Semien’s time in Texas was an overall success but they seem like they’re going in a different direction and Semien fits the bill of what the Mets are going for. Interestingly, both players had the right to reject this trade and remain with their teams but both elected to move on and start fresh somewhere else. Texas gets an everyday outfielder while taking on more overall money, and New York gets the defensive infield upgrade while shedding some long-term money on Nimmo’s remaining five years. You don’t see many of these types of trades anymore but it’ll be interesting to watch how it works out on both ends. And we’ll get an up close look at Texas’ side of the trade.

Let’s start the week strong! Have a good one guys!

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