The MLB world was shocked this past weekend when the New York Mets threw in the towel for the season and traded Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers.
Along with fellow former Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, Scherzer was brought to the Mets on a high-priced contract with the expectation of leading New York to World Series contention.
At the time of the trade, New York found itself at 49-54 and on the bottom-end of playoff contention in the National League. It has since moved Verlander and other assets while apparently building up the team’s farm system.
Scherzer himself had a rather interesting story to relay following his trade from the Mets to Texas. He sat down with Mets owner Steve Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler ahead of the trade being finalized. It was in this meeting that the Mets’ power elite informed Scherzer that they were entering into full-scale rebuild mode.
“I talked to Billy. I was like, ‘OK, are we reloading for 2024?’ He goes, ‘No, we’re not. Basically our vision now is for 2025-2026, ‘25 at the earliest, more like ‘26. We’re going to be making trades around that.’”
“I was like, ‘So the team is not going to be pursuing free agents this offseason or assemble a team that can compete for a World Series next year?’ He said, ‘No, we’re not going to be signing the upper-echelon guys. We’re going to be on the smaller deals within free agency. ‘24 is now looking to be more of a kind of transitory year.’”
Max Scherzer on conversation with New York Mets brass, via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic
There are some who believed that the Mets were collecting assets in the form of top minor leaguers in order to pull off a big move this winter. That notion can now be thrown out the window based on Scherzer’s comments.
Related: MLB trade tracker with grades
New York Mets entering into full-scale rebuild mode
By moving off the likes of Scherzer and Verlander, the Mets have acquired three top prospects. In the Scherzer trade with Texas, it picked up infielder in that of infielder Luisangel Acuña. He already slides in as New York’s No. 2 prospect behind catcher Kevin Parada.
Thursday’s blockbuster deal that sent Verlander back to the Astros included New York picking up outfielders Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford. They were Houston’s No. 1 and No. 4 prospects, respectively. In the process, the Mets are paying a total of $89 million remaining on the contracts of Scherzer and Verlander.
The fact that New York’s brass told Scherzer their plan for the future is telling. The fact that he relayed them to the media is another story. However, it’s now darn clear that the New York Mets are going into full-scale rebuild mode.