But I guess it makes sense. He's a certified Mets veteran at this point, as 2023 is his 8th season with the club. Nimmo's been with the Mets almost a decade. That's nuts!

He's an excellent ballplayer, but has yet to live up to his potential. I remember he was a top prospect back in the day, being ranked among the top-100 at one point. But he could just ... never ... stay ... healthy. From 2016 to 2021, he played more than 100 games just once and had 300+ ABs just twice.

So all his great work in the field and with the bat—he owns a career 130 OPS+ and .386 OBP, awesome numbers both—were muted, somewhat, by the fact that he averaged just 76 games and 232 ABs per year for his first six seasons.

After a while, you stopped waiting for him to break out and just got used to what he could provide, which was consistency ... when he was actually on the field.

When we saw what he could do in a full season, 2022 (surprise surprise, during his contract year), it became readily apparent just how valuable he could be. He truly could extend his success over 150+ games. 102 runs scored, 30 doubles, a league-leading 7 triples, 16 homers, a 130 OPS+. That's awesome.

Was it worth giving him a seven-year contract at over $20 million per year, like the Mets did? No, not at all. Cut those years in half and I would have been down. But to invest in a guy who showed health for the first time at the age of 29 was too risky.

But it's good the Mets have guys like Nimmo (and Alonso, McNeil, Nido, Guillorme) who have become faces of the team, or at least Mets veterans. We finally have guys to look forward to—and can expect to—keep seeing year-in and year-out. For a few years after the 2015 World Series, it seemed like there was a carousel of players and no real core of Mets.