ARLINGTON, Texas — Max Scherzer never anticipated being traded from the New York Mets, and said the sentiment in their clubhouse was that the underachieving team that had expected to contend for a World Series title this year would reload for 2024.
Scherzer instead found out the Mets were shifting their focus past that date — until after his contract expires. The three-time Cy Young Award winner waived his no-trade clause to be dealt to the Texas Rangers after conversations with New York general manager Billy Eppler and owner Steve Cohen about the team’s plans following his final start for the Mets.
“(Eppler’s) answer was that the team is now kind of shifting vision and that they’re looking to compete now for 2025 and 2026, and that 2024, that it was not going to be a reload situation in New York, and that it was going to be more of a transition in 2024,” Scherzer said when he was introduced by the Rangers on Tuesday, two days after the deal was announced.
Since that was different than what he had previously heard from Cohen, Scherzer called the owner who he said then “basically articulated” the same point that the Mets were identifying a new vision and timeline.
Justin Verlander, another three-time Cy Young Award winner, followed Scherzer to the AL West race on Tuesday, when he returned to the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros in a deal just before the trade deadline.
Scherzer and Verlander were among six players the Mets traded away in the days leading up to the deadline: closer David Robertson went to Miami, reliever Dominic Leone to the Los Angeles Angels, outfielder Tommy Pham to Arizona and outfielder Mark Canha to Milwaukee. They also sent infielder Eduardo Escobar to the Angels in June.
In those deals, the Mets got back 10 minor leaguers — most of them considered promising prospects. New York also acquired pitchers Phil Bickford and Adam Kolarek from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday for cash.
By trading Scherzer, Verlander, Robertson and Canha, the Mets lowered 2023 expenses by about $45 million in salary and tax.
Eppler said after the deadline that the Mets had tried to be strategic to expedite long-term goals and build their farm system.
“You can kind of try to serve the major league team and at some point, when you’re in the circumstances that we’re in, you want to make the best of that situation,” Eppler said. “So for us, that was seeing what opportunities exist and seeing if we could get impact talent.”
Eppler said the Mets will field a competitive team in 2024, though he acknowledged they don’t see themselves having the same odds as they did going into this season and last year, when they won 101 games.
“So now is a time where we start to think about what opportunities can exist in the winter time, what kind of resources we’ll have at our disposal and put our best foot forward,” the GM said.
Asked about Scherzer’s comments, Eppler said he didn’t want to discuss their conversations publicly.
“It’s a repositioning of layers of assets in the organization. We’re trying to build a sustainable system, for years to come,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said.
New York’s record-high payroll was a projected $365 million just more than a month ago, but that hasn’t bought a winning team. The Mets went into Tuesday night at 50-55, which was 17½ games out of first place in the NL East and six games — and several teams — below the final wild-card spot.
The Mets are paying Texas $35.51 million over the next 14 months as part of the Scherzer trade, leaving the Rangers in effect responsible for $22.5 million owed to the 39-year-old pitcher through next season. Scherzer opted in for 2024 before the deal with the Rangers was completed.
Robertson had already been traded to Miami for two minor leaguers before Scherzer made his final start for New York on Friday night. Scherzer said he was already getting texts from players he knew across the league talking about trade offers and asking if he would accept them.
The Mets will send Houston around $35.5 million at least, covering a majority of the remaining roughly $57.5 million Verlander is guaranteed. New York will pay around $4.2 million this year and $31.3 million in 2024.
If Verlander pitches 140 innings next year and triggers his $35 million conditional player option for 2025, the Mets would pay another $17.5 million if Verlander exercises the option.
After winning the World Series and AL Cy Young Award with the Astros last season, the 40-year-old pitcher signed an $86.7 million, two-year deal with the Mets in December that includes the vesting option for 2025.
“The Mets, we went into the season with high expectations. Rightfully so. We had a very good team. Unfortunately, we didn’t play up to it,” Scherzer said. “And because of where everybody’s at within their contract situation, age, everything, Billy and Steve, they had a different vision now. The math changed on them.”
Texas sent the Mets minor league infielder Luisangel Acuna, a brother of Atlanta Braves All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. The Astros shipped top outfield prospects Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford to New York. The Mets got a minor league pitcher from Milwaukee for Canha.
“We certainly expected to win a lot more games than we did,” Canha said. “I think that’s a super-talented team. It’s a great organization and I don’t think they’re out of the race yet, by any means. … But the deadline comes up and a team has to make moves and that’s what happens.”
