Brandon Nimmo ready to do ‘whatever it takes’ to help Mets win World Series

One of the biggest goals for David Stearns during his first offseason as the president of baseball operations for the Mets was to improve the club’s run prevention.

Part of how Stearns went about addressing that was by adding one of the top defensive outfielders in baseball: veteran center fielder Harrison Bader on a one-year, $10.5 million deal.

While Brandon Nimmo has improved tremendously as a defender over the past few seasons, Bader brings an elite-caliber defender up the middle for New York, so the 30-year-old is expected to slide over to left field on more of a full-time basis.

Nimmo has had conversations with Stearns throughout the offseason and he continues to express that he’s ready and willing to do whatever it takes to put the team in the best position to succeed.

“My goal at this point in my career is to win a World Series,” he said Monday at spring training. “I put my trust in David if he thinks this will make us better, that’s fine by me. I’m definitely willing and available to do whatever is best for us to win a World Series.

“It’s just about being versatile. We have an amazing center fielder in Harrison who was brought in and has been at the top of the list for the last few years defensively, so I just have to be versatile with being ready for both left and center field.”

Manager Carlos Mendoza said on Monday that while who plays in center depends on matchups, health and the schedule, "if everyone's healthy and producing and playing the way they're capable of playing, you're going to see a lot of Brandon in left and Bader in center."

"Again, there's versatility and there's flexibility and then the health factor," the manager continued. "So, hopefully, I have those tough decisions."

Nimmo, who has been snake-bitten by the injury bug throughout his big league career, is also hoping that making the transition to a corner outfield could potentially help keep him healthy moving forward.

“Less miles on the legs is always going to help you out,” he said. “If I’m able to move over it’ll save miles on my legs and I won’t have to move as much, so ultimately you’d hope that that’ll help with health in the long run.”

While some people are down on the Mets heading into the season after they lacked the big-name additions fans had been hoping for this winter, Nimmo has full faith in the team assembled to bounce back from last year and contend.

“We feel really good about what we’ve got,” he said. “I believe in the guys that are in this clubhouse and the team that David and Carlos put together. We’re deep, we’ve got a lot of good players, we have veterans and a lot of young guys coming up.

“I’m excited about what these guys are going to bring both on and off the field. I’m excited to get to know them and to see what their aspirations are for how they're going to get better this year and how we’re going to help the team.”