Max Scherzer wasn't planning on leaving the Mets this summer, but "a change in organizational direction" forced him to alter his plans.
In an interview with The Athletic, Scherzer spoke about his departure from New York. He was traded to the Rangers on July 29 in exchange for prospect Luisangel Acuña.
Until recently, Scherzer was under the impression that the Mets would be gearing up for a World Series run next season despite a disappointing 2023. They currently sit 50-55, fourth place in the NL East and six games out of a wild card spot.
However, a conversation with GM Billy Eppler revealed that wasn't the case.
“I talked to Billy,” Scherzer said. “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.’”
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Mets owner Steven Cohen and his front office spent last offseason putting together the most expensive MLB roster ever assembled at $344 million. With that kind of money being thrown around, the expectation was to compete for a World Series — or at the very least make a deep playoff run.
Instead, the Mets own a losing record as the calendar flips to August.
That disappointment has led to a clear-out at the 2023 deadline. Scherzer is now gone, as are fellow veteran pitchers Justin Verlander and David Robertson.
According to Scherzer, the Mets' front office indicated virtually any player whose contract expires in 2023 or 2024 could be out the door for the right price.
“That’s a completely different vision from what everybody had in the clubhouse," Scherzer said. "All the players had a vision of, we reload for 2024. That was no longer the case.”
That drastic change in approach — from trying to contend in 2024 to entering a mini-rebuild — is ultimately what led Scherzer to move on.
“If they had said, ‘Hey, we’re looking to compete in 2024’ … I wasn’t itching to get out of New York," he said. "I’m not itching to jump ship. I don’t have to chase the ring. I made a three-year commitment with New York. I would honor that if we were going to try and win in 2024. But that wasn’t the case. What was being communicated to me was that there were a lot of pieces being moved for prospects to try to make the 2025 team better.”
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Scherzer will now reset and look to make an impact for the Rangers. Texas is currently first place in the AL Central at 60-46, although the team has been slumping recently with seven losses in the last ten games.
For the Mets, it looks like Cohen's $344 million experiment will end without a playoff appearance, much less a World Series title. Only time will tell if their fortunes will change in several years' time.
