Nimmo stays with NYM: 8 years, $162M

MLB Rumors: Brandon Nimmo and the New York Mets have agreed to terms on an eight year, $162 million deal, per multiple reports.

This deal keeps Nimmo with the Mets — the team that drafted him #13 overall in 2011, and the only team he has played for — through his age 37 season. Nimmo has spent the bulk of his career in center field, though he will likely have to move to a corner in the next few years. He is a career .260/.385/.441 hitter, and had a career-best 5.1 bWAR in 2022.

This is a significantly bigger deal that I think was expected, though a weak pool of free agent outfielders no doubt helped in that regard. Fangraphs was projecting five years at $20-22 million per year for Nimmo this offseason, while Kiley McDaniel had five years at $23.5 million.

With an eight year deal, the Mets stretch out the total dollars and reduce the AAV of the deal, which helps them with the luxury tax situation. Nonetheless, this is a whole lot of money for a guy without a lot of power who is likely going to be a COF pretty soon, and who has had durability issues during his career.