PORT ST. LUCIE — Brandon Nimmo recently hired Scott Boras, baseball’s highest-profile agent, but he doesn’t want that to be misconstrued.
Boras’ history mostly has been to push clients who are in their final season before free agency to the open market. Nimmo, however, said he is open to a contract extension with the Mets and is willing to engage with team officials on the topic this spring.
“This is all I have known being a New York Met and I like the direction this team is heading,” the 27-year-old Nimmo said Saturday upon reporting to spring training. “I think with Steve [Cohen] at the helm of things, he wants to win and he will do what it takes in order to win.
“I know being here as long as I have, every year I hear about the ’69 Mets and the ’86 Mets and so I want to be one of those teams that brings a World Series back. I think that would be amazing, to have a parade in New York. I would like to be a part of that, but I would like to be approached [on a contract] and we’ll see what happens.”
The outfielder called his choice to sever ties with CAA and hire Boras a family decision that served him best from a business perspective. Nimmo is entering his final arbitration-eligible season and can hit the free market next winter. Last season, he earned $4.7 million.
Another Boras client, Michael Conforto, failed to secure a contract extension with the Mets before and during last season and remains on the free-agent market. It is unclear whether Conforto still might return, but Nimmo spoke of the outfielder in the past tense.
“I wish [Conforto] all the best,” Nimmo said. “I love that guy. He was one of my best friends here and I wish him all the best. We will see where he ends up.”
Nimmo, who was active in collective bargaining agreement negotiations as the team’s player-rep, declined to dive into specifics of why the Mets (along with the Yankees, Cardinals and Astros) voted against the CBA, which was ratified Thursday.
But Nimmo wasn’t afraid to admit he had an issue with the “Cohen Tax” — a fourth tier of the competitive balance tax that was added to the CBA with additional penalties for teams surpassing the $290 million payroll threshold. The first tier sits at $230 million. The Mets already have a $265 million payroll for this season and aren’t necessarily finished. Cohen is the sport’s wealthiest owner, with a net worth of $16 billion, according to Forbes.
“Obviously, I am not a huge fan, because that is Steve’s tax, basically,” Nimmo said, referring to the fourth tier. “But it’s something baseball is passionate about and they wanted, so that was one thing we weren’t totally for — but I get it, I guess. Obviously being underneath Steve, I am not going to lie and say I was all for that. I definitely didn’t want to limit him from spending the money that he wants to spend the way he wants, but in the deal-making process you have got to concede some things and our majority felt like that was the right decision.
“Steve’s a smart guy and he will figure out a way to do the best with the circumstances that are here, but it’s a little bit frustrating. But I have got all the faith in him, he’s going to figure out a way to win. We’ll just move on from here and take it the way it is now and we’ll try to do the best we can.”
