It has been a couple of weeks since the Colorado Rockies hired Paul DePodesta as their next president of baseball operations. He came from the Cleveland Browns, but he has an extensive background in baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and New York Mets.
In 2010, Depodesta was hired as the vice president of player development and scouting for the Mets. He held the position until 2016 before making the move to the NFL and the Browns. During his time in New York, he oversaw MLB Drafts. In 2011, he drafted a high school outfielder, Brandon Nimmo. Now, 15 years later, could DePodesta and Nimmo reunite in Colorado?
The New York Mets are reportedly open to trades this offseason, and Jeff Passan of ESPN made it known that they are willing to listen on a lot of players. One of those players is Nimmo. A reunion with DePodesta is not all that crazy.
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DePodesta drafted Nimmo with the 13th overall pick in 2011 out of Cheyenne, Wyo., and he said at the time that New York was making the pick that would make the most impact when they selected him, according to the New York Post (subscription required).
“When we went into this, to be quite frank with you, we weren’t that interested in making what we thought was making the safest pick,” DePodesta said in June of 2011. “We were interested in making the pick that we thought had the most impact.”
DePodesta is still assessing things with the Rockies, but it would be hard to ignore a potential reunion in Denver with Nimmo. He is coming off a career year in home runs (25) and RBIs (92) for the Mets. He hit 24 and 23 home runs in 2023 and 2024, respectively, before 25 in 2025. He slashed .262./.324/.436.
There would be some obstacles in acquiring Nimmo. He has full no-trade protection, which would make it very difficult for Colorado to get him to waive. Then there is his contract, which still has five years remaining on it for $20.5 million a year.
Then there is the return, and what the Rockies have might entice the Mets to consider a deal. If he were to end up with Colorado, his offensive numbers would take off in 81 games at Coors Field, and that would be welcomed production for a team that is looking for anything positive after a 119-loss season.
Nimmo will turn 33 right before Opening Day in March and could thrive in Colorado. This would be a major move for DePodesta this offseason.