NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Nimmo was hesitant about waiving his no-trade clause with the New York Mets but hearing the team had not talked to free agent Pete Alonso about a contract was among the factors that influenced his decision to accept a trade to the Texas Rangers.
Nimmo, who was not in the lineup for the Rangers on Tuesday night because of a lingering hamstring issue, explained some of the things that went into him agreeing to a trade from the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2011 draft.
“It definitely went into the decision-making process just because I wasn’t sure. If they were willing to trade me, then who else are they going to try and trade,” Nimmo said before Texas faced the Yankees in the opener of a three-game series. “And obviously who are they going to bring back and all that stuff.
“When Pete said they hadn’t reached out to him, there was definitely a lot uncertainty into which direction they were going. But ultimately I had to make other phone calls, and I had to talk with many more people and deliberate over and over for many more days. So, it wasn’t just his conversation that went into it. I talked with dozens of people. So, it was just a piece of the puzzle that helped in the decision-making process."
Nimmo waived his no-trade clause and was traded for Marcus Semien on Nov. 23. About three weeks later, Alonso signed a $155 million, five-year contract with the Orioles. On Friday, the first baseman said the Mets never reached out to him in free agency.
Nimmo is due annual salaries of $20.25 million each season through 2030. The left-handed hitter will get an additional $1 million assignment bonus from the Mets for waiving the no-trade provision. As part of the trade, the Mets will send Texas $5 million by Sept. 18.
“It kind of took me aback and I said well obviously I hope they do reach out to you, but they haven’t at this point then I’m going to have to make a decision based on that. And we kind of left that conversation thinking he was probably going somewhere else,” Nimmo said about Alonso. “I hadn’t really made up my mind yet, but it definitely was a factor going into it. I wasn’t really sure what I’d be coming back to.”
After hitting .262 with single-season highs of 25 homers and 92 RBIs in his final season with the Mets, Nimmo is hitting .300 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 33 Rangers games. He exited games Wednesday night and Friday night with right hamstring tightness but will avoid the injured list for now.
“It’s definitely coming along,” Nimmo said. “It’s just about trying to balance this. We’ve had this point in the schedule where we’ve been fortunate to have some off days and maybe we can grab one more here and there and be smart about it.”
While Nimmo avoided the IL, the Rangers put infielder Josh Smith on the 10-day IL due to a right glute stain. The move is retroactive to Monday for Smith, who is hitting .350 in his last seven games but .217 overall.
Texas replaced Smith on its roster by recalling infielder Justin Foscue from Triple-A Round Rock. Foscue was hitting .287 with two homers and 14 RBIs for Round Rock and has appeared in 19 games in the previous two seasons with Texas.
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Texas Rangers' Brandon Nimmo walks out of the dugout as he prepares for an at-bat against the New York Yankees in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, April 27, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Texas Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo catches a Detroit Tigers' Matt Vierling fly ball during the second inning of a baseball game Friday, May 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has spent his campaign for Ohio governor focused on November's general election and finally gets the chance Tuesday to put the long primary season behind him, as the Trump-endorsed biotech entrepreneur positions for an expensive run against Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director.
Contests on the ballots also will set the stage for Ohio's third competitive U.S. Senate race in the last four years, as well as a handful of U.S. House races that are expected to be closely fought in the fall.
Every statewide executive office is open this year due to term limits, but the governor's race has captured the bulk of the attention so far.
Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP primary presidential candidate, swept onto the state's political scene early last year as a mad shuffle was taking place. Then-Sen. JD Vance was ascending to the vice presidency and front-running gubernatorial candidate Jon Husted was being appointed to replace him in Washington.
That opened a window of opportunity at the top of Republicans' statewide ticket.
Though he is a newcomer in state politics, Ramaswamy's national profile, tech industry connections and proximity to Trump landed him the Ohio Republican Party's endorsement. With it, he cleared a prospective field that included the sitting state attorney general, state treasurer and lieutenant governor.
But Democrats also saw opportunity with the open governors seat, even as the state, a former bellwether, has tipped convincingly toward Republicans during the Trump era. The president’s lagging approval ratings on the economy and dissatisfaction over the war in Iran are contributing to a competitive contest.
Acton, a physician and public health expert, emerged as their choice. She became a household name across Ohio in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as she stood alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during daily coronavirus broadcasts. Her comforting presence during the crisis made her a beloved figure with many Ohioans.
“I just think she’s real,” said Aaron Weiner, a Cincinnati real estate agent who voted for Acton. “She has had struggles, so I think she can empathize with people who are struggling to get ahead.”
But the administration's aggressive actions — including shuttering businesses, closing schools and canceling an election — also earned Acton plenty of enemies and made her the occasional target of people upset about pandemic policies, with some armed protesters showing up outside her home.
Ramaswamy's campaign has sought to capitalize on the lingering anger over pandemic restrictions with attacks on Acton's role early in the crisis. Ramaswamy was advising the lieutenant governor at the time — Husted — on virus-related economic issues and he founded a company that profited off its role developing vaccines.
Acton is unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Ramaswamy faces a long-shot challenge from Casey Putsch. The engineer and car designer is a YouTube provocateur who has trolled Ramaswamy incessantly over his Indian heritage and Hindu faith and painted him as an out-of-touch billionaire “tech bro.”
Cincinnati voter Paul Mussman, who cast his ballot for Ramaswamy, said he considers it an asset that he is a relative newcomer to politics.
Ramaswamy would look at issues “in a fresh way and not based on what their party affiliation is,” Mussman said.
Husted is unopposed in the GOP primary for Senate, a special election to fill the remainder of the six-year Senate term Vance won in 2022. Husted's likely opponent will be Democrat Sherrod Brown, a former three-term senator who lost a reelection bid against Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, a contest where spending hit $500 million. Brown faces a minor primary challenge from first-time candidate Ron Kincaid.
Early voting began April 7 under some new election laws, including citizenship checks and elimination of the four-day grace period for receiving mailed ballots. There have been no reports so far of any widespread problems for voters related to the changes.
In the wake of a new round of redistricting that slightly favored Republicans, the state also has numerous partisan congressional primaries.
The most heated GOP primary is in the Toledo area’s 9th District for the chance to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress.
The five-way contest includes former state Rep. Derek Merrin, whom Kaptur defeated by less than a percentage point in 2024, as well as an Air National Guard veteran, a healthcare industry worker, a sitting state representative and the former deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Madison Sheahan.
In Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman's Cincinnati-area district, which his party considers a “must-hold,” the three-way Republican primary includes Eric Conroy, a CIA and Air Force veteran who has been endorsed by Trump, Vance and Moreno.
Landsman also faces a primary challenge from Damon Lynch IV, the grandson of a prominent civil rights leader. Lynch has criticized Landsman for his initial vote against a war powers resolution on the war in Iran, which Landsman later followed up with a favorable vote.
In the Akron area's 13th District, five Republicans including business owner Neil Patel, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate, are vying for the opportunity to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes.
As a Trump-backed national effort to remake congressional maps in Republicans' favor was underway, Ohio Democrats took a could-have-been-worse approach and passed the map they were given unanimously.
Now party candidates are crowding congressional primaries across the state for the chance to take on sitting Republican representatives, who hold 10 of Ohio's 15 seats.
The newly redrawn 7th District in the Cleveland area has attracted eight Democrats hoping to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a former senior Trump adviser, in November. Among them is former Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.
In northeast Ohio's 14th District, former state Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill is among three Democrats seeking to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce. Joyce also has two primary challengers.
Meanwhile six Democrats are on the ballot in the Dayton-area 10th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner. There are seven in GOP U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli's 6th District along the Ohio River and five in the 5th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta.
Associated Press writer Dylan Lovan in Cincinnati contributed.
Marylou Zschach fills out her ballot at her polling place at the Burbank Early Childhood School in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, during the primary election. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks into his phone after fining out his ballot at his polling place in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, during the primary election. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown speaks during a campaign event ahead of primary elections at the Paladin Brewery in Austintown, Ohio, Thursday, April, 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
FILE - Amy Acton, Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio, gestures as she speaks with a reporter in Columbus, Ohio April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to supporters before the Warren County Republicans Lincoln Day Dinner at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
