How much do the Mets value the leadership and defense of Marcus Semien? They’re betting on Semien being a decent offensive player at ages 35, 36 and 37 at second base, a long shot that is not even on the baseball actuarial chart these days.
New York traded career-long Met Brandon Nimmo to Texas to take on the end of the aging curve of Semien. The Rangers are trying to re-make their team to be younger, cheaper and more contact heavy. (Goodbye, Adolis Garcia.) Nimmo actually strikes out more often than Semien. But with Garcia gone and Josh Smith on hand to play second base, the swap made some sense for Texas in terms of age (Semien is 35, Nimmo turns 33 in March) and positional need.
