The New York Mets took the field five months ago believing they were headed to the World Series with the biggest and fattest payroll in baseball history, a team loaded with Cy Young winners, All-Stars and MVPs.
Who could have imagined they’d turn around and engineer one of the quickest teardowns in baseball history?
The Mets began taking a sledgehammer to the team Saturday by reaching a preliminary agreement with the Texas Rangers to send three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers and opened trade talks with the Astros to send Justin Verlander back to Houston.
Scherzer, who has a complete no-trade clause, informed the Mets that he would accept the deal, two high-ranking officials with direct knowledge of the decision told USA TODAY Sports. The officials requested anonymity because that information hasn’t been made public.
The deal won’t become official until Scherzer undergoes a physical and the financial exchange between the parties is finalized.
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But it is happening.
And it is the blockbuster hit of the summer.
Just like that, $172 million worth of contracts just flew out the door, and served as a subtle reminder that winning the winter doesn’t mean a single darn thing in the summer as the Mets self-imploded.
The Mets tipped their hand when they traded closer David Robertson on Thursday night to the Miami Marlins, angering Scherzer, who said that he wanted to have a discussion with the Mets front office about its plans.
Well, Scherzer quickly discovered that he wasn’t part of their rebuilding plans and was informed Saturday afternoon that the Mets reached a deal to send him to the Rangers. Scherzer waived his no-trade rights later in the day. He is being paid $43.3 million this year and in 2024, and got a nice raise simply playing his home games in Texas, where there are no state taxes instead of New York. He lives during the offseason in Jupiter, Florida, where there also are no state taxes.
The Mets are also working on a deal with the Astros, who would love to have Verlander back if the price is right. A high-ranking Astros official said they would want the Mets to pay a significant portion of his $43.3 million contract this year and next year, that includes a $35 million club option that vests if he pitches at least 140 innings in 2024. The option year, one official said, could be a hang-up in the deal
So, just like that, the Mets are the biggest sellers at the deadline and the Rangers, who dropped $700 million in free agency the last two winters, including $185 million on former Mets Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, are the biggest buyers.
“We’re trying to balance the best interests of the team but also balance the best interests of the organization,” Mets GM Billy Eppler told reporters. “And sometimes those are more perpendicular than they are parallel. It’s tough.”
The Mets, who now will unload outfielders Tommy Pham and Mark Canha, and start over in the winter with former Brewers GM David Stearns heading to New York to become president of baseball operations. At least now, he’ll have a clean slate with a whole lot of money coming off the books if Verlander departs, too.
Still, there figures to be a whole lot of dead money on the books in exchange for getting better prospects. He already is paying about $55 million to players no longer in the organization, which could double with Scherzer and Verlander.
Certainly, it was an abrupt about-face that no one envisioned.
Really, no one expected the Mets to be this bad, and if the Mets indeed are even slightly rebuilding, Scherzer wants no part of it.
He just turned 39 years old, has been to the postseason nine times, including the last four full seasons, and isn’t about to spend the last few years of his career playing for a rebuilding team.
So Scherzer leaves.
Verlander could join him.
And, oh, how baseball’s trade deadline suddenly lit up the New York skyline.
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