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New York Mets GM Billy Eppler said that just because veteran ace Max Scherzer was dealt to the Texas Rangers prior to the MLB trade deadline, it did not mean the team was in rebuild mode.
Well, Scherzer seems to think otherwise.
"I talked to Billy," Scherzer said to The Athletic. ""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.’"
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Max Scherzer, #21 of the New York Mets, looks on against the Los Angeles Dodgers during their game at Citi Field in the Queens borough of New York City. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
However, it is not just trades – Scherzer said the Mets do not plan on going after any top free agents this offseason as well.
"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,’" Scherzer explained.
Scherzer said Eppler also explained that, prior to the MLB trade deadline, players that were eligible for free agency after the 2024 season were also on the trade block – not just ones like him who hit the market after this season.
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That ultimately led Justin Verlander to getting dealt back to the Houston Astros, where he won the American League Cy Young and the World Series last year. Verlander, who just signed on with the Mets this past offseason to join a star-studded group in Queens, did not last his entire two-year, $86.67 million deal with a 2025 player option.
Instead, the Mets dealt him to the Astros to work toward the future, receiving Houston’s No. 1 prospect Drew Gilbert and their No. 4 in Ryan Clifford.
Scherzer’s deal to the Rangers yielded Ronald Acuña Jr.’s younger brother, Luisangel Acuña, their top prospect. He quickly sits as the second-best prospect in the Mets’ system now, while Gilbert goes to No. 4 and Clifford to No. 6.
The Athletic added that Scherzer’s conversation with Eppler came this past Friday, when he told reporters he needed some clarity on the Mets’ direction after David Robertson, a veteran reliever, was traded last Thursday.
While Scherzer understood Eppler’s reasoning about wanting to be open to deals regarding 2023 free agents – the Mets have a 50-55 record on the season entering Tuesday, sitting 17.5 games back of the NL East lead – but he wanted to hear the strategy from the team’s owner, Steve Cohen.
Max Scherzer, #21 of the New York Mets, in action against the Washington Nationals during a game at Citi Field on July 28, 2023 in New York City. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
Cohen has been aggressive in upgrading the talent in Flushing since he took over as majority owner, and bringing in Scherzer was one of those moves before the 2022 season that was a key part in the 101 regular-season wins that ensued last year.
Scherzer told The Athletic that Cohen gave him "exactly the same thing, kind of verbatim" to what Eppler said of the Mets’ plans moving forward.
That was why Scherzer, who had a full no-trade clause in his contract, agreed to be dealt to the Rangers, who owned the AL West lead entering Tuesday.
"If they had said, ‘We’re going to hold on to all the ‘24 pieces,’ that would have been a different story," said Scherzer. "But they were saying ‘no, we’re going to be moving players that are under contract for 2024 before the deadline.’"
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"We walked through some players I had in mind who would be that. It turned out it was much more extensive than that. The players we ended up talking about who are free agents after ‘24, they were more substantial names. Any player who was a free agent after 2024 at the right price could be moved right now at the deadline.
"That’s a completely different vision from what everybody had in the clubhouse. All the players had a vision of, we reload for 2024. That was no longer the case."
What could this mean for the Mets moving forward? Could Shohei Ohtani be off limits despite many believing Cohen would be aggressive in signing the megastar this upcoming free agent period? What about Pete Alonso, one of the faces of the franchise who is set for free agency after the 2024 season?
Max Scherzer, #21 of the New York Mets, in action against the Washington Nationals during a game at Citi Field on July 28, 2023 in New York City. (Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
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Many questions will enter the minds of Mets fans, as Scherzer left the door he just walked out of open to reveal where the front office’s mindset is at for the future.