Buck Showalter sounds suspicious of the NY Mets trade for Marcus Semien

Buck Showalter appeared on the Foul Territory Podcast and talked a lot about the New York Mets. The last team he has worked for, he has plenty of insight into what the team and specifically some players are like.

He talked about the relationship between Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil. Although different people, going as far as to call Jeff McNeil a “Long Beach State dirtbag,” he believes the two can work together. Of course, Showalter hasn’t been there over the last two years. Better marriages than the one between Lindor and McNeil have fallen apart quicker than anything which may have escalated over the last two years between the two.

While he had confidence in the two playing together in the future, he does have a big question about the Mets’ trade for Marcus Semien. He didn’t get specific. He’s just wondering why the Texas Rangers would have traded a guy who was considered their captain.

If there was more to this trade than meets the eye, it seems like the Rangers might’ve been in a similar spot as the Mets

What’s especially unique about this pondering by Showalter is it implies maybe the Rangers locker room might’ve had some of the same problems as the Mets. Showalter offers no clear answer and even states it could have been purely a move to change scenery. Nothing, thus far, has indicated there was a behind-the-scenes issue within the Rangers with Semien being a part of the problem. And you better believe if there was, New York media would have swarmed and put out a story to make the Mets look bad.

With Brandon Nimmo as the part going to the Rangers, it’s a lot like two captains swapping teams. We don’t know any specific issues Nimmo might’ve had within the locker room dynamic. As the longest tenured Mets player with a brief break to join the free agent pool after the 2022 season, there are ways to speculate how he has felt to see others enter the picture and essentially come away with the public persona as the team’s captain when he has had his heels dug in for longer than anyone else.

Publicly, Semien has said all of the right things. Nimmo was as close to Captain America as it gets, even playing briefly alongside David Wright in the past.

A potential tenure-defining trade by David Stearns, the Nimmo for Semien deal can be spun a number ways. A good defender for a good hitter. A zero-time All-Star or MVP vote receiver for a guy who was a third-place MVP finisher three times. A player still in his prime for one in the twilight. It depends on what message you want to send.

This might be an incredibly complicated trade that has a lot to do with clubhouse dynamics or a pure baseball move. Wait for a tell-all book in a couple of years to come out for any dirt.