Mets' ugly season gets worse with latest news on veteran OF

Brandon Nimmo’s 2023 season is over, as the Mets placed the outfielder on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder sprain. The placement is retroactive to Sept. 29, and catcher Michael Perez was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.

Manager Buck Showalter told reporters that Nimmo’s injury is related to his AC joint, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. An MRI didn’t reveal any damage to the rotator cuff, so it doesn’t appear to be a particularly serious issue or anything that would hamper Nimmo’s readiness for spring training. Nimmo even told The Athletic’s Tim Britton and other media that he would’ve kept playing if the Mets had still been in playoff contention, and that he should need only 10-14 days to recovery.

Injuries have often plagued Nimmo during his career, yet he followed up a career-best 151 games and 672 plate appearances in 2022 by narrowly topping both marks in 2023, playing 152 games and making 682 trips to the plate. Nimmo his .274/.363/.466 with a career-high 24 home runs this year, with a 130 wRC+ and 4.4 fWAR.

While the Mets’ season as a whole was a disappointment, Nimmo was a bright spot, and his continued good health provides some extra relief given his long-term importance to the team. New York re-signed Nimmo to an eight-year, $162M free-agent deal last winter, which outpaced even the most optimistic projections for a player whose injury history (even though not his production when healthy) was such a question mark. It’s obviously too early to call the signing a clear win just yet, but Nimmo’s continued strong play beyond his contract year is a good sign that he can be a big part of what the Mets hope will be an eventual return to contention.