Brandon Nimmo played in his second Spring Training game on Thursday, serving the Mets’ designated hitter against the Red Sox. It was Nimmo’s first on-field action in over a week, as right knee soreness and a gel injection to battle inflammation kept the outfielder on the sidelines. The Mets were already taking Nimmo’s ramp-up slowly in a nod to the plantar fasciitis issue that bothered him for much of 2024, yet Nimmo told the New York Post’s Dan Martin and other reporters that his left foot is no longer much of a concern, or at least less of a concern than his knee.
In terms of what created the knee issue, Nimmo feels a swing adjustment he made this spring added some extra stress on his joint. He also cited some longstanding MCL and cartilage damage based on a torn ACL Nimmo suffered 15 years ago when he was a high school football player. While Nimmo has had plenty of injury problems during his baseball career, his right knee has been pretty stable until now.
At the moment, Nimmo said he is only able to run at about 80 percent of his normal level. “For sure, there’s definitely still some soreness [and] still some pain when I get above those levels,” Nimmo said. “We try to keep things at a controlled level of pain. Up to a certain threshold is OK, but if you go much past that, then you do more damage than you’re trying to gain.”
The plan is for Nimmo to get into the “90-95 percent” range before he starts to focus on more high-impact outfield activity, beyond tracking balls and other light drills. Anything less, and Nimmo feels he could be putting both his knee and the Mets’ outfield defense at risk. In terms of overall readiness, both Nimmo and manager Carlos Mendoza were cautiously optimistic that Nimmo should be ready for Opening Day in at least a DH capacity.
The Mets have already been hit hard by injuries this spring, as Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil will all start the season on the injured list, and Nick Madrigal’s season has probably already been ended by shoulder surgery. A DH-only version of Nimmo wouldn’t help with this lack of depth, though Jesse Winker or Tyrone Taylor could step into left field in the interim. If Nimmo is limited just to DH, however, it could crowd Starling Marte out of more at-bats.
Nimmo is a passionate player, always plays 150%
But that contract is absolutely awful
No way no how he’s worth 162 mil
And mets barely
Just barely gave pete 54?
Raise your hand if you knew it was a horrible contract the day it was signed. Uncle Steve may be a “fan” of baseball; but probably many of us here could spend his money more effectively and build a better roster.
Yeah, the length of this contract was always going to be a problem. And just to make things worse, he gave Nimmo full no trade protection from Day One, as well. when Nimmo was still three years and 130 days away from getting that through five-and-ten rights.
Even Lindor wasn’t given that generous a no-trade clause.
Brandon Nimmo has made 41 million dollars and has given the Mets 55.5 million in value already and yet, it’s a horrible contract? Interesting opinion.
I think the concern is the 8 years and value over the entire time vs a couple of years
Not to mention giving an 8 year deal to a guy who at that point had played over 100 games maybe 2 times in his career
He hasn’t given 55.5 million in value. Not even close.
Do you have a basis, Mets Era, or is that just your opinion.
Just to catch you up, Fangraphs has determined (or decided) that 1 WAR is worth approximately $8 million (though that number is moving). Nimmo has posted a 6.9 fWAR over the past two seasons since signing that contract.
If you don’t agree with Fangraph’s methodology, there’s certainly a discussion to be had there. But at least we know the basis for Drascoo’s statement.
Guess I just pulled that number out of my rear, huh?
8 million a year isn’t across the board. Higher WAR players will get more than that. Nobody is paying 8 million a year for a 1 WAR player. Iglesias just had a nearly 4 WAR year and got a minor league deal. I don’t know why you are under the assumption that most teams use WAR to determine salaries. It’s a small piece of information that is used and the value of it has varying degrees of importance by organization.
I get most Americans do not know the definition of words but maybe you should look up what “value” means.
I think you are looking at a flawed way of looking at salaries. You are under the assumption of every WAR being equal. There is a drastic difference between a 5+ WAR player and a 2 WAR player. 2 WAR players are fairly common and easily replaceable. 5+WAR players are not. Paying a player 8 million a year for a one WAR would be absurd.
Why are you on an American website if you think you are smarter than Americans? I guess your country doesn’t know the “value” of creating your own content.
That random personal attack kinda ruins your argument. I get what fangraphs is trying to do with that evaluation but it is no doubt a flawed metric.
That being said Nimmo is way more important to the mets than people realize. He is the straw that stirs the drink.
It still sounds like you’re undervaluing Nimmo here, then, even if you don’t agree with FG’s WAR value calculations. Over his career, he’s averaged 4.4 fWAR/162 GP, and since 2020 he’s only missed significant time once (2021) – he played 55 out of 60 games in 2020, and since 2022 he’s played 151, 152, and 151 games. So very clearly he’s been a 4-5 WAR player before and after signing the contract, and as you say, that type of guy is not easily replaceable and worth a fair amount of salary.
$20m a year for an OF isnt very much, and in four years it will feel like even less. Marte making $19M and giving very little and far less than nimmo. Nimmo a bargain so far on the deal. My concern is whether these foot and knee issues will keep him from playing at a high level next two years when mets are hoping for significant contributions. After that he’ll be 34 and they know his value will diminish.
Marte’s contract was a drastic over pay too.
I’m not under any assumption about how teams evaluate salaries, and I said nothing to defend or support the use of WAR. In fact, I specifically said, “If you don’t agree with Fangraph’s methodology, there’s certainly a discussion to be had there.” All I said was that we know where drascoo (right or wrong) got his evaluation. And I asked you to clarify the basis for yours. And yet here, many hours and argumentative posts later, we still don’t know where you get yours.
So I’m now left to assume that the answer to my question is: No, you do not have a basis for your evaluation.
My evaluation of a player is over paid is what a better player or equivalent is getting in free agency. With Santander and Profar getting a lot less, then I think Nimmo is over pain
It’s weird because he had a significant injury history before the contract. And the latter years may not look so great. But really, that doesn’t matter. The Mets expected that.
If it wasn’t for the injury history, Nimmo would have made a lot more in free agency.
Is this a haiku?
Here’s one, Lou!
Seven Six Five Juan
Very Expensive DH
Flounders in the field
Haikus for $100 Alex:
See Brandon Nimmo
Nimmo is always injured
Cohen paid too much
150+ games 3 years in a row. Wrong again.
How many more years does the Nimmo contract run? IIRC, it’s four meaning 2029. That’s Cashman-esque.
It runs through 2030. Plus he has full no-trade protection. So even if Cohen wanted to eat the money and trade him, he can’t without Nimmo’s approval.
@bronx
6 more yrs on his deal
Petes wife….. is that you?
If Nimmo has to play DH for a spell while he gets the knee up to speed, I would just move the Winker/Marte platoon from DH to LF. Definitely a bit of a downgrade defensively but if it’s short-term you shouldn’t really see too much of a negative impact.
I think that is the solution @ Danzig. I would add one more out of the box solution. Taylor is coming off surgeries this winter. He needs time to get back his swing. He is having a terrible spring. I would send him through waivers and out right him so he can get his stuff together in Syracuse. I don’t think he will get claimed nor will he pass on his nice 3 million 4th outfielder salary. Keep Azocar who is absolutely tearing it up this spring and is out of options for late inning defense and plug in for the inevitable Marte injury.
Out of the box thinking, but I don’t see the Mets doing that with Taylor.
There is no world in which Taylor goes unclaimed. And no world in which the Mets send him down while Nimmo is hurt. You’re putting far too much emphasis on spring results. Especiall early spring. Let’s keep watching and let’s see what Azocar does the rest of the way.
@ Geoff If the Mets were so high on Taylor from last year they would have not got Siri. I see Taylor as a non tender in the near future. Teams will think more then twice about a once traded,non starter, coming off 2 major surgeries, with an ops of .450 with a week left in spring training games guaranteed 3 million. Azocar is controlled for years and is a better defender and runner. Mets fans need to think about things more then being emotional.Azocar is a surprise gift and will be plucked if they pass him through waivers
First off, let me say that you’re posts are my favorites to read, Danzig. Always on point, sensible, astute, and backed up by fact and reason.
That said, I’m seeing things a bit differently on this one. Its actually a huge downgrade defensively. Too much to use every day.
I think its more likely that they use a variety of solutions and a rotation of players that also involves Taylor in LF and Siri in CF some, if not most days.
The wild card is McNeil’s injury. Had he been healthy, he could’ve played LF some days, with the reserve infielders (whoever they may be) getting some time at 2B. We’ll see how long he’s out.
Now we’re left wondering. Do these injuries prompt the Mets to keep Acuna, simply because he has also played some CF and can provide some depth? And if they do, does he play 2B exclusively? Or does he get some time in the OF?
It’ll be interesting to see how Stearns and Mendoza move the pieces around on this one.
I completely agree that you’ll be seeing more Tyrone Taylor regardless of how they set the lineup – even if they want to use the Winkler/Marte platoon primarily in LF while Nimmo DHs, Taylor is going to be coming off the bench in close games to shore up the defense.
I’ll be honest – I knew Winker was not great defensively but looked at his OAA numbers and -woof-. I think if he’s starting in LF you’re bringing in Taylor in the 5th or 6th inning of a close one, lol. Marte I think might pick up a little bit of value playing LF over RF – he was generally a plus fielder by OAA before coming to the Mets, and he had never played RF in the majors before that. There might be a correlation there, and pushing him down the defensive spectrum a little bit might let those numbers bounce back up some.
I’m thinking that both Acuña and Baty make the OD roster with McNeil hurt; they can be a platoon at 2B with Acuña coming in for defense on days Baty starts and getting the occasional run in CF if they think his glove is up to it.
Gonna be an interesting first month for the Mets – I’m hoping this is just getting the injury bug out of the way early and giving some bench guys a chance to develop into better pieces, but we’ll see. And truly appreciate your kind words – I’ll throw them right back at ya, you’re a poster in these parts whose opinions I always enjoy reading.
@DanzigInTheDark Sorry, but that’s an awful idea. Both Marte and Winker were among the very worst corner OFers in MLB in 2024, and now they’re one more year removed from their primes.
By range Winker was in the bottom 1 percentile. Marte was in the bottom 5th percentile. They were unplayable at 30 and 35. Now they’re 31 and 36.
The impact will be huge.
—Even Brett Baty in LF would be better. At least there’s upside.
In before metsin4 argues (with backwards logic) that this makes “his” team so much better…
Biomechanical risk ignored. Swing mechanics directly affect lower-body stress, particularly on weight-bearing joints like the knees, hips, and ankles.
Most MLB teams focus on upper-body swing tweaks (e.g., launch angle, bat path) without accounting for their lower-body impact.
That’s very presumptive again, Yorkie! Lower body is worked just as much, but keep going… we’ll call you Butter today because you’re on a roll!
@Gwynning
Look, it’s not that they’re ignoring his legs. It’s that they’re looking at his knees and ankles like they’re separate pieces of a puzzle, not like they’re all connected. Imagine you’re building a tower with blocks. If you only check if each block is strong enough on its own, you might miss that the whole tower is wobbly.
They’re changing how he swings, right? But they’re not really checking how that change makes his whole body move together. So, his knee ends up taking a beating, even though they thought they were being careful. They’re missing the big picture, basically. They need to see how all the pieces work together, not just one at a time.
“It’s that they’re looking at his knees and ankles like they’re separate pieces of a puzzle… etc. Etc.”
How do you know this? Just curious.
@Gwynning
if teams were really looking at how the whole body works together when they change a player’s swing, we’d see proof of it. Right? We’d see studies, we’d see players getting hurt less, we’d see them playing better.
But we don’t. We just see guys getting hurt, and everyone scratching their heads. So, it’s not that I know they’re not doing it, it’s that there’s no proof they are doing it. If they had this amazing way to see how everything connects, they’d be shouting it from the rooftops, right? Because then they’d be winning more.
Basically, if it existed, we’d know about it. And we don’t.”
I’m retired now, Yorkie… but when I played, nobody kept their body in better shape than me. I could do cardio all day, my whip was strong and my core was solid. I still got hurt, nagged by muscular injuries, or felt general soreness which could lead to worse if I wasn’t careful. Serious injuries (IL worthy or worse…) were always the result of a freak occurance, not because myself or my trainers weren’t doing something properly.
@Gwynning
Maybe, as I said, we should be investing in studies of how these changes impact their overall health as well. I think teams have a long-term interest in keeping some of their players they’ve invested in, on the field. Maybe back in the 1950s, teams didn’t really care about that, but the money wasn’t as big as it is today.
And I’m telling you that those studies exist ad nauseum. Players still get hurt, and unfortunately, always will. You just can’t prevent them all, bar none.
@Gwynning
Which studies? Do you have a few studies to share?
@Gwynning
You’re right that injuries, especially freak occurrences, will always happen in sports. But the crux of the issue is not whether injuries can be prevented entirely—because, as you said, they can’t be. It’s about how teams approach injury prevention, and whether current methods are truly optimizing player longevity and performance.
Studies may exist on injury prevention, but the type of data we need is holistic and incorporates biomechanics across the entire kinetic chain, not just isolated muscle groups or individual joint functions. For example, we need to analyze how mechanical adjustments in one part of the body (say, a swing change) affect other areas in real-time, over time. This isn’t just about keeping a player strong or well-conditioned—it’s about understanding how every motion in the swing, from the lower body to the core, translates into stress on the joints and muscles, and how this affects long-term health.
The key point is: there’s no clear, publicly available proof that teams are systematically analyzing the entire body’s response to swing adjustments. If this were happening, we’d likely see fewer injuries associated with mechanical changes, more players staying healthy longer, and perhaps even higher performance metrics across the board.
If these studies exist in the way you’re suggesting, they haven’t translated into a breakthrough for injury reduction at the professional level yet—at least, not in a way that’s widely communicated or applied. The answer isn’t that it’s impossible to prevent injuries, but rather that the current focus might be too narrow, and more comprehensive, integrated biomechanical studies could yield better results.
I’m driving so I’ll keep this short. Do I have studies to share? Not by links, no. My experience was literal safety meetings with MGMT and kinesiology reports from trainers where they would break down your performance (running, gait, camber, torque, oxygen expended, etc.) Ironically, look up “METS” and see how that plays into the bigger picture. (Stands for somethinh like Metabolic Equivalent/Replacement or something of the like…)
Anyhow, we were inundated with a statistical overload essentially telling us how to move. We still got hurt. Later man!
@Gwynning
So, they’re measuring how a guy runs, how he twists, all that stuff. That’s great. But it’s like having a bunch of puzzle pieces without knowing how they fit together.
They’re looking at each piece, but they’re not seeing how changing his swing changes how all those pieces move together. That’s why guys still get hurt. They’re missing the big picture.
It’s not that they’re not doing anything. It’s that they’re not doing the right thing. They need to see how the whole body works as one big machine, not just a bunch of parts.
Your “evidence” that they aren’t taking a holistic approach is ridiculous. Injuries aren’t coming down so they aren’t doing it. Cmon. You’re taking a result that you’re convinced in and working backwards. For professionals working at that level there is no valid reason to believe they aren’t exploring every connection using every tool that medical and sports science provides. The results not going the way I expect is not evidence they aren’t doing it.
@foppert3 Agreed. It’s ludicrous to think that baseball teams, incredibly incentivized to minimize injuries, particularly to stars, teams that were already in the 1970s looking into ballet and yoga to improve player flexibility, are ignoring an holistic approach to player health for no particular reason.
You know what happened to old yeller!!!play the young blood
Well hopefully he’ll stop running like a child to first after a walk. He is so annoying.
No, that’s kinda cool and it’s part of the reason he has a reputation as a team player and hard worker.
Winker in LF, Nimmo at DH vs. RHP
Marte in LF, Nimmo at DH vs. LHP
Not good defense, but the lineup stays exactly the same.
Get rid of this .227 cream puff already. Mauricio LF, Gilbert CF, Soto RF.