David Stearns speaks live after trading Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien

I now hand it over to president of baseball operations, David Sterns. David, hi everyone. Thanks a lot for um hopping on. I’ll start by just thanking Brandon and and his family for an incredible career with the Mets. You know, from from the moment the Mets drafted Brandon, he did everything right here. Um he represented the organization exceptionally well on and off the field. Um a and really was a a great um a great Met. Um you know, we we wish Brandon and his entire family nothing but the best as they embark on the next phase of of Brandon’s career with the Texas Rangers. We’re also really excited to add Marcus Simeon to our organization. Marcus brings an elite level of defense. He’s one of the best defensive infielders in baseball and has been for a number of years. Um, he’s a winner. Uh, he brings a a winning drive and determination that we think is going to fit well in our clubhouse and he balances our lineup from the right side, which is something we we were seeking to do. So, very happy um to be able to bring Marcus in. And beyond the the immediate player return part of this deal, we think this opens us opens up possibilities and flexibility for us going forward. Both from a near-term perspective and also allowing space for a number of very young outfielders who are coming um who are talented and will deserve spots at the major league level and and to play at the major league level. And this transaction also um provides room for that to happen as we move forward. So um the these are always tough decisions. Um this was not easy. Everyone here thinks very highly of Brandon. Uh but in order to create the type of sustainable championship caliber play that we seek to have here at times these types of decisions are necessary. and I’m happy to answer any questions uh that any of you have. Thank you, David. As a reminder, please use the raise hand feature located at the bottom of the screen. We’re going to end uh please state your name and affiliation. We’ll start it off with Anthony Domeo. Anthony Doma, MLB.com. Uh, hey David, can you just walk us through the timeline of how this came about from conception, like who whose idea it was at first and all the way through to I’d be curious to hear about your thoughts presenting it to NMO, who obviously had to had to clear it. Yeah, this this is something that um really probably gained steam last week after the GM meetings. I think throughout the off season um Texas uh had looked at NMO as as a very attractive fit for them and we had looked at Simeon um as a potentially uh really good fit for us, but we we didn’t really line up and and um and and really start making progress on this I think toward until towards the the tail end of the GM meetings um into uh into last week. Um these are difficult deals to put together. You’re talking about um two very established players. Uh you’re talking about two players who are embedded in their uh organizations who have had success there. Um and and clearly in Brandon’s case uh you’re talking about a player with with no trade protection. Um, and and yeah, I’m going to keep the specifics of the conversation with Brandon, I think, between the two of us, but but Brandon’s Brandon’s a pro. Um, he’s the ultimate pro. Um, he was very respectful, um, considerate uh, and considered, I think, uh, throughout uh, this process. Um, he took time to digest everything, took time to speak with his representation, took time to speak with his family. um to determine uh what was best and and ultimately uh he decided to accept the trade. Brandon was obviously a you know not just a longtime player here but a fan favorite. Uh you’ve alluded to this a couple times already, but to what extent or how much do you weigh those sorts of things uh versus just a pure baseball decision in these in these matters? Yeah, it was it was something we had to think about. Um, no question. Uh, both in terms of fan reality and and the fan relationship with Brandon, but but also we have real relationships with Brandon and and our players have real relationships with Brandon, coaches do. Um, front office does. Um, and so that is that is a part of this and um that certainly makes decisions like this a little bit more challenging than they otherwise would be. Uh, but at the end of the day, I still felt like this was the right decision for the organization. Thanks, Bill. Hey, David. Um, just when you talk about wanting to give young players a chance to play and have those avenues opened up, how do you kind of square acquiring a 35-year-old at a position where you have these young players who are available and who are maybe, if not already, ready to contribute a year or so away from doing so? Yeah, I think the good thing about the players who um maybe have played second base for us uh over the past couple years who are a little bit younger or who may uh be coming who are infielders, there’s there’s a ton of positional versatility with all of them. Um so whether that’s uh Akuna um or Jet Williams or Ronnie Mauricio, we have a high degree of confidence that all of these guys can play multiple positions. um and and can play them at a high level. And so we don’t look at uh the Simeon acquisition as necessarily blocking anyone from continuing their progression. And just how how did you um how much did you I guess wanting to change the clubhouse dynamics? Did that play a role into this trade at all? I I don’t know if it’s necessarily wanting to change the clubhouse dynamics. I think it’s a recognition that um what we did last year wasn’t good enough and and running back the exact same group um wasn’t the right thing to do. And so as we went into this, we we believed and still believe that we have to be open to anything. Um that that we shouldn’t be in a spot to take anything off the table. And ultimately, if we’re able to put to put transactions together um that we think make sense for the team both now and in the future that we have to consider them regardless of of what names may be involved. Disha. Hey David, just Semian is obviously coming off of a down year at the plate. Given his age, it points to an obvious decline. Just what makes you believe that he can rebound offensively? Yeah, I I think there’s still some underlying aspects of what he does um that that are encouraging uh for us offensively. Um I I also think it’s notable that this is a player that can contribute to winning baseball in a variety of different ways. Um and and the bat may not actually lead the way at this point in his career. Um we think there’s there’s likely some bounce back in his offensive profile and his offensive game. Uh but what we’re counting on uh uh at the top of his skill set is the contributions he can make for us defensively. Um how he can uh perform on the bases and we think those are going to help us win games. Yeah. And then you have alluded to it a little bit. What are those intangibles from Simeon in terms of winning drive, leadership, his high character? What did you like there about him? I I think as we really began to dig in on who this person was, talk to his former teammates, former coaches, people who have been around him, this is someone who takes his craft incredibly seriously. Um someone who who does everything he can on a regular basis to get in the lineup to perform at a high level. Um practices hard and holds those expectations of his teammates as well. And I think that’s going to fit in very well for our group. We’ll go with Tim Britain from The Athletic. Hey David, uh obviously you have a second baseman who’s been there for a while and Jeff McNeel kind of where do you view McNeel fitting into your roster at this point in time now with Semiam on board? But I think Jeff by virtue of his positional versatility still has the ability to impact our our team in a variety of ways. What exactly that’s going to look like is probably going to have to wait until we watch the rest of the offseason unfold. But certainly his ability to play corner outfield is a help. Um there may still be days if Simeon needs a blow where he’s playing some second base. Um we may ask Jeff to play some first base depending on how the uh the offseason pans out. I I talked to Jeff uh yesterday. Um he understands where we’re headed. Um I think he wants to be a part of this and he understands his positional versatility is a real asset for us. And then you you mentioned at one point that you know running it back from last year was not the right thing to do. At at what point during that that slide over the final couple months of the season did you as a front office come to that that conclusion that you need to do maybe more changes than you had initially thought of and and is this enough of a change in your mind or is there more to come? So I I I think when you’re in the moment in in going through a playoff push, you’re you’re focused on the dayto-day. um you’re focused on trying to do everything you can to win that day and there’s there’s offseason preparation going on um uh but there’s probably not that time for for real reflection on on how the team is performing at that moment. And so I think once we got into the off season and had the time to fully reflect on our team is is when I became convinced that uh you know we weren’t just going to run it back. Um that we were going to make some changes. Um you’re never know you’re never sure which changes uh are actually going to occur, which changes are actually going to be possible. Um and that’s still the case as we move forward. Um I I don’t know what the next transaction is right now. Um, but I I know we’re going to keep going in the offseason and I’m very confident we’re going to have a productive off season. Laura Albanese from News Day. Hi David. How do you foresee the outfield alignment shaping up and does this increase your appetite to go after a sort of higher profile uh free agent outfielder or do you still feel like there are internal options that you can kind of plug those holes with? I think it would be too early for me to really determine how our outfield alignment is going to going to shape up. Um, look, we we clearly we’ve got Juan, um, Tyrone Taylor’s back with us. We’re very excited. We’ve got a number of young outfielders, um, including Carson Bench, who we think are going to contribute at the major league level over the course of next year. As I mentioned, we think Jeff, um, is a contributor at the at the major league level, um, in the outfield next year. Jeff Williams has seen some outfield time uh, and we believe can play well there and and we’ve seen that in the minor leagues. Um, and then there are there is the opportunity for external acquisitions and we’ve got a lot of offseason left. I I would expect us um to continue to be active in a variety of spaces to bring players in here and I think we’ll have a better feel for what all of that looks like as we get much farther into the winter and ultimately into the spring. Abby from the Daily News. How much do you have to sort of weigh some of the the clubhouse stuff in terms of, you know, NMO was the key leader, Seamian’s the key leader obviously on another team, but like is sometimes some of that stuff a little bit um I don’t know, overblown by the fans? I mean, is it does it not um weigh as much as their onfield uh production or onfield contributions would be? I I think it’s all part of our our decision points and our evaluation of the team. Um very difficult to create an equation for for how you balance onfield performance and clubhouse chemistry and clubhouse leadership and um how different pieces um within that puzzle are all going to fit together. Uh very difficult to measure any of that. Uh, and so, you know, Brandon clearly was a very important piece, a prominent piece of our clubhouse for a long time. Um, and we think Marcus is going to be able to fit in very well. Also, we’ll go with Mike Fitzpatrick from the AP. Hey, David. Um, your, uh, your first baseman, your closer are both, you know, officially free agents now. Have you had a chance to engage them uh in talks extensively in talks? Excuse me. How would you characterize those um negotiations or pursuits at this point with Alonzo and Diaz? As I’ve said before, we we we’d love to have Pete and Edwin back. They’re both great Mets. Um I’m not going to get into any of the specifics of of any conversations that we’ve had to this point. Anthony David, if you wanted to resign Pete, resign Edwin ends, go out and get a top flight outfield acquisition, do you have the financial attitude to do that? I I think our our ownership group is and Steve is very consistent that they’re willing uh to support what we think is right from a baseball perspective. um you know, payroll space is not unending, but I am also very confident that we’re going to have um the support we need and and certainly the resources we need um to put a very good team on the field. Is what I just described a realistic strategy for you guys this off season? Sure. Yeah, I I I think anything would be realistic right now. Thank you, Jake Mins from Yahoo. Uh, I know you only overlapped with Brandon in Queens for two years, but when you look back on, you know, the entirety of his Mets’s tenure, what sticks out to you? Look, I I think it’s the relationships that Brandon was able to create throughout our organization and the community. And I think that speaks to um his authenticity and that connected with a lot of people. And um he deserves a lot of credit for that. Um and I think that’s what we’ll miss most. Disha, just one more on NMO. How much did his re recent injury history change the value of his 8-year contract that he originally signed, especially with the repeating neck injury that would take him out sometimes? I don’t know. I I think I think Brandon posts pretty well. Um, and look, they’re going to be nagging injuries for any player, especially as as you get into these stages of their careers. But um Brandon did everything in his power to get on the field and clearly more nights than not he was out there playing left field for us. Any additional questions? All right, David, thank you very much for taking the time to sleep with us today and we appreciate everybody hopping on the call. Thank you very much.

New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks live after trading LF Brandon Nimmo for Texas Rangers 2B Marcus Semien.

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48 comments

  10. I don't like this trade. Marcus's bat is on a serious decline. Sign Pete. He's the face of the franchise! If you don't sign Pete you'll be asking customers, "Would you like fries with that?"

  16. Finally a GM with a plan for now and future…now we will see if it works…he inherited an ok roster and a light farm system…not a good script for long term success…the Mets are not a great team and it is about rebuilding while winning…this is a small move that could be a good building block based on what comes next..plus Semien’s contract is easier to eat in a couple of years if the young kids stay and show they can play….this core has clearly shown that they have reached their limit…the offense is free swinging and Nimmo is emblematic of that…need some bats on the ball…need better defense…can’t keep straddling the line…need to move forward and the current make-up can’t seem to do it

  17. I'm sad to see Brando Nimmo depart. This is a player who's loved and admired by Mets fans, and I hope David Stearns realizes that we in turn received a player who's regarded as a good defensive player, but his offense has declined over the past years. Not to mention that the acquisition is 35 years old, and now we just lost a good offensive player who's a club house leader. I don't feel optimistic about this trade or the way Stearns is operating the club. David's mentality that he believes that new acquisition would regain his offense is laughable. Because the player has shown to be declining in his offense, and does not have the leadership quality or the chemistry that Nimmo has with the players. In my opinion David Stearns is not the man to run the baseball operations for the Mets. I strongly believe that he's trying to run this club like he did in Milwaukee, and this is high salary club unlike the Brewers.

  19. Wow this fool really tried to downplay the relationship with fans and Brandon by mentioning the organization. Bro, you literally just got here! We been here with Brandon since the beginning. He clearly don't care how the fans feel. His attitude is so smug and his know it all approach to the game won't get him anywhere.

  22. I don't like sterns how dare you
    I could let buto go but not Nimmo saw this stuff play for 5 years at Citi Field it sure going to be different

  23. I can't believe Mets fans forgot this team choked last year with Nimmo & his fielding was atrocious. His contract was an albatross. I'm sure Stearns shopped Nimmo around & this was best they can get. Now opens up left field.

  26. Obviously, they will need to add an outfielder. I don't think they will be in on Tucker because of his injury history. Byron Buxton also presents a problem with his lack of durability, but, he is affordable and his contract expires in three or four years. The only way they will acquire him is if they make him a corner outfielder. Jarren Duran is an excellent fielder who can play all over the outfield, but he can't hit lefties, and his power profile is not great. He also strikes out too much. The only sensible answer is Cody Bellinger. The Yankees have signaled that they have no interest in him, so I think the Mets are going to wind up battling the Dodgers for his services. If they sign Bellinger, there is a good chance that they won't bring back Alonso.

  29. SOOO00OO00000 STEARNS YOU ARE SAYING THAT NIMO0 WASN'T A WINNER…..THIS NEW/OLD GUY IS A WEEINER
    SOMETHING NIMO0 DIDN'T HAVE….
    🤔OKAY….SOOO00OO00000 WHAT ELSE YOU STEARNS DO YOUUUU KNOW….????

  31. 🤬 FOR THIS TYPE OF TRADE/S YOU COULD OF STAYED WITH IGLESIAS…DAAAAAaaaaaaaa !!!!!
    IGLESIAS J.D QUINTANA SEVERINO WERE THE GLUE OF THE METS MOVING FORWARD….🤬🤬😒

  32. Boy, when STINGY STEARNS speaks you can detect how hypocrite he is concerning NIMMO. SEMIEN is three yrs older than NIMMO and doesn't bring the offense that NIMMO did. Plus they gave the RANGERS an additional 5 million dollars.

  34. Im really trying to see the vision Stearns has. I understand having to move Nimmo bc of the def decline and his big contract, but to trade him for a guy who is 3yrs older and declining offensively makes 0 sense. We lose 25 hrs and 90 rbis for a guy who can't hit anymore, but supposedly will make up for his terrible offensive with supposedly elite defense at 35. Yea ok….

  40. For you Mets fans that worry first about who you love BEFORE winning, you will NEVER see another World Series again. Look at teams like the Yankees and Dodgers…if they lose one of their cherished players they
    get over it and deal with reality.

  42. Not buying anything from wonder boy, I think Brandon saw a way out and took it…he never bought into this clubhouse after Soto and the Pete drama…and definitely not Mendy..is that simple..and management gave him the best possible scenario…with his no trade clause …

  48. Overrated GM. Has he had one successful trade?
    Anyone can sign free agents with Steve checkbook. Takes a great GM to identity talent and make the right moves to push the needle. We’ll see how 2026 plays out so far it’s been disappointing to lose Nimmo. Would be funny if Alonso signs with Texas

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