2023 MLB trade deadline: Mets deal Max Scherzer to Rangers after RHP questions future with team
The Mets will receive Rangers prospect Luisangel Acuña in return
Max Scherzer is on his way out from the New York Mets, less than 24 hours after he said he was reconsidering his future with the team.
The Mets have agreed to a trade with the Texas Rangers that will send the three-time Cy Young winner to the AL West, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman and ESPN's Jeff Passan. The deal required Scherzer's approval due to his no-trade clause, and there were conflicting reports on whether he would waive it, but he eventually agreed to.
The Rangers will pay Scherzer $22.5 million, and the Mets will pay the rest of his salary, per SNY's Andy Martino. At one point, Heyman reported that Scherzer was willing to waive the no-trade clause, but the hang-up was turning his option for 2024 into a guarantee. Scherzer eventually exercised the option, meaning he will be a Ranger through the end of 2024.
Per Martino, the Mets will receive Rangers prospect Luisangel Acuña, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves MVP frontrunner Ronald Acuña Jr. MLB Pipeline ranks Luisangel Acuña as the No. 44 prospect in baseball and No. 3 in the Rangers’ system.
Scherzer is in the second season of a three-year, $130 million contract he signed with the Mets after the 2021 season. That deal includes a full no-trade clause, which meant Scherzer had final say on anywhere the Mets wanted to deal him.
The Mets, currently 49-54 and 6.5 games back from a wild-card spot, signaled that they would be selling at the trade deadline when they sent closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins on Thursday in exchange for a pair of prospects, infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez. That was the deal that incensed Scherzer enough for him to tell reporters that he wanted a conversation with the Mets' front office after Friday's game.
“I’ve got to have a conversation with the front office … about everything,” Scherzer said. “That’s the most I’m going to say. You have to talk to the brass. You have to understand what they see, what they’re going to do. That’s the best I can tell you.
"I told you I wasn’t going to comment on this until [owner] Steve [Cohen decided] to sell. We traded Robertson. Now we need to have a conversation. I haven’t had that conversation yet, and I will.”
We now have a pretty good idea of how that conversation went. With Robertson traded and Scherzer on the way out, the Mets have little reason to hold onto their other movable assets, most notably starting pitcher Justin Verlander. They will be a team to watch in the days remaining before Tuesday's trade deadline.
Rangers making aggressive move with Scherzer, but is it a wise one?
Rangers general manager Chris Young is not shy about his affection for proven, elite pitching. This deal will again slot Scherzer into an ambitious rotation that had planned to rely on Jacob deGrom.
The big question on the Rangers' side is whether Scherzer, the future Hall of Famer who turned 39 Thursday, is still the impact addition he was as recently as 2021. By top-level measures, he’s in the midst of his worst season since 2011, sporting a 103 ERA+ (which means he has been only 3% better than league average, based on park-adjusted metrics).
His strikeout rate has also ticked down, but the most worrisome sign is a ballooning vulnerability to home runs. Homers used to be one of the only ways to score on Scherzer, but this season, he has allowed a whopping 1.92 per nine innings, third-worst among qualified starters. Notably, the starter with the worst HR/9 — the veteran Lance Lynn — was also just traded to the Dodgers.
In particular, Scherzer’s struggles and inconsistencies in the middle innings have raised eyebrows in the first year with the pitch timer. On a Mets team that has struggled to fill innings, Scherzer nonetheless went a better-than-average 5.7 innings per start. A deeper team might envision boosting his numbers simply by cutting his workload.
This trade marks Scherzer’s second high-stakes midseason move in three years. When the Washington Nationals tore down their World Series-winning core in 2019, Scherzer accepted a deal to the Dodgers and proceeded to go 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA the rest of the season before struggling with fatigue at a decisive juncture in the postseason.
The Rangers will likely need to find a way to maximize Scherzer with restraint that has never before been necessary for the famously competitive hurler. But they are a team whose trade deadline could make a huge difference. They're just two games up on the Houston Astros for the AL West lead, which would guarantee the winner a bye into the ALDS. With deGrom out for the season due to injury and new ace Nathan Eovaldi carrying a heavy workload, more reliable pitching might be needed for the Rangers to hold off the Astros.
Rumors swirled around Scherzer and Verlander over the past week as the Mets’ chances at contention dwindled and GM Billy Eppler began selling, most notably sending closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins on Thursday.
Scherzer appeared to bristle at the direction Friday in postgame comments, even with the Mets sitting well outside of a postseason spot.
As other potential sellers, such as the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres, have held off on moves, the Mets have decisively jumped into sell mode to capitalize on a thin market for pitching help. Outfielders Mark Canha and Tommy Pham are also candidates to join new teams.
