3 big threats to sign Brandon Nimmo away this offseason

Brandon Nimmo has become one of the best center fielders in baseball. He has developed into a good defender and remains one of the league’s best threats to get on base. On the New York Mets, he has established himself as the table-setter at the top of the order.

Re-signing Nimmo this offseason is an important aspect of general manager Billy Eppler’s mission to come back in 2023 with a strong roster. Replacing him would be next to impossible. Unfortunately, other good and active teams could also use that center field boost.

In their attempt to keep Nimmo in New York, it’s these three teams that could pose the biggest threat to signing the happiest man in the game.

1) NY Mets have a threat in the Houston Astros to sign Brandon Nimmo

The Houston Astros consistently one of baseball’s best teams. Something they didn’t have in 2022 was a very good center fielder. Chas McCormick was a decent option for them. However, Nimmo would be a major upgrade.

The Astros will have quite a few big openings in their roster for the 2023 season. The outfield is one of those spots. Aside from right fielder Kyle Tucker, the team will have room to improve in center field and left field.

Houston has been pretty lucky with a lot their free agent signings in recent years. Michael Brantley aged well until injuries finally caught up with him. He’s a free agent after this season and Nimmo would be a similar-style player in some ways to replace him on the roster.

During most offseasons, it’s the Astros who always appear as a threat for a lot of different available players. The case remains the same with Nimmo who will be arguably the best center fielder in the market—assuming we all agree Aaron Judge qualifies more as a right fielder.

2) NY Mets have a threat in the Boston Red Sox to sign Brandon Nimmo

Plenty went wrong for the Boston Red Sox this past year. An area of concern for them throughout the 2022 season was the outfield. Left fielder Alex Verdugo had an okay season. Beyond him, things were a bit messy.

Starting center fielder Enrique Hernandez was injured often and when he was healthy he batted just .222. Right fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. didn’t even make it through the whole year before getting released. Youngsters Jarren Duran failed to establish himself fully as a player they can trust next year. If Boston wants to bounce back quickly, a deal with Nimmo is one way to improve their roster in a big way.

The Red Sox are in danger of losing some major players this offseason. Xander Bogaerts could opt-out. The team may also see several of their starting pitchers depart. They aren’t typically a team to undergo any lengthy rebuild. Even if they take an approach closer to what the Chicago Cubs did last offseason by buying mildly, Nimmo could fit in with their plans.

Outfielders can get taken for granted. We’ve seen past Mets teams do this at a position or two. They didn’t get caught with those issues in 2022. Nimmo was joined by Mark Canha and Starling Marte this past season for one of the best trios in the game.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox had one of the worst outfield groups in the sport. Nimmo can help change this completely.