‘Tis the season for monster contracts, and Brandon Nimmo is the next to drop.
The top center fielder on the market is sticking with the Mets on a massive eight-year, $162 million deal:
Clearly, Nimmo’s injury history means an eight-year deal is nuts in the abstract, but as Passan rightly points out, this is all about keeping the AAV down for a team that is WAAAAAY over the top luxury tax tier. That’s now the model, it seems, for teams that figure they’ll be over the tax from time to time. You’re basically “deferring” a lot of the contract (into years when the guy is “under contract,” but you know you might not get much from him), which reduces the present-day value AND lowers the AAV. I totally get it.
My immediate reaction to this news? This is bad. Very bad. Very, very bad.
Why?
Because Nimmo’s other big suitor was the Giants. And if the Giants had landed Nimmo at this price tag, there would have been a CHANCE that they might be out on Carlos Correa. Or at least limited in some way.
Now? It’s yet another reason for them to go over the top to land Correa.
More soon, I’m sure.
UPDATE: Well, this isn’t about Nimmo, and it’s much smaller scale, but the Mets are finally landing David Robertson (without trading anything to the Cubs this time):
A great payday for Robertson after he came back from Tommy John and dominated for the Cubs and Phillies last year. Fun fact: given the Mets’ placement over the top luxury tax tier, this Robertson deal actually costs them $19 million. Must be nice.