SURPRISE, Ariz. — Brandon Nimmo’s cellphone rang on Nov. 20 and David Stearns’ name came up on the screen, and in that moment, Nimmo knew something important was afoot.
Stearns had reached out before. The two had debriefed on the 2025 season just a few weeks earlier, for example. But there had always been an initial text to set up a time to connect. Now, it was about 2 p.m., and Nimmo told his wife and mother-in-law he could not let it ring through, noting how “irregular” and “out of the blue” it was to get a cold call from the Mets head of baseball operations.
So he stepped outside, and what went through his mind was amusing to him in retrospect — he figured there was a time-sensitive trade on the table so his opinion on an involved player was more urgently needed. So no time for a text. He even thought, what if it is something more urgent and really bad?
It turned out he was correct — and correct.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
