One thing the NY Mets trade of Brandon Nimmo and signing of Devin Williams share

The award for the most active team in the offseason thus far has to go to the New York Mets. David Stearns has been busy the past two weeks, when, in addition to his customary bottom-of-the-roster tinkering, he's shipped off Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien and then followed that seismic move by swiping former New York Yankee Devin Williams from the Bronx.

With Semien, he's adding a Gold Glove second baseman even if the bat has fallen off to sub-Jeff McNeil levels in recent years, taking a massive step toward his goal of improving the club's run prevention skills. With Williams, he's put one piece of the bullpen puzzle in place.

The Nimmo-Semien trade received a solid grade, and the Williams signing grades out as at least as acceptable, but in all honesty, these moves are hard to evaluate without the answer to the question What's next?

The Brandon Nimmo-Marcus Semien trade and the Devin Williams signing both prompt the question of what the Mets will do next

If the 2026 season began today, the Mets would be considerably worse than the disappointing 2025 version of the club. Williams, until proven otherwise, is a clear downgrade from Edwin Diaz. Semien might be a better defender than Jeff McNeil, but McNeil likely would be your starting left fielder if this were all that was done.

Fortunately, we haven't even hit the Winter Meetings yet. The Mets are still pursuing Edwin Diaz, even with Williams in the fold. Cody Bellinger or (less likely) Kyle Tucker are still options to fill the left field void.

The tough thing, though, is that the Mets' cover is blown. They no longer have the advantage of operating in the shadows at their disposal this offseason. By being so splashy so early on, David Stearns has announced to the rest of the league that he means business.

That means the teams competing with the Mets for the likes of Diaz and the rest of the top closer options, and Bellinger and Tucker, are on high alert and will be even more motivated to prevent the Mets from wrestling another top option away.

The Dodgers, for example, were considering Williams to fix their broken bullpen. Do they now decide to steal Diaz away? The Yankees need to replace Williams in their pen while having been eyeing a reunion with Bellinger, and this could up their urgency on both fronts even more. The list goes on and on.

So, while the initial reactions to these moves come out, they mean even less than normal. The true way to see whether Semien and Williams make the team stronger isn't evaluating the two players on their merit, but rather, as part of a greater whole that can only be determined once we see what else Stearns has up his sleeve this winter. Stay tuned.