July 29, 2023
Morgan Killian-Moseley
"Max Scherzer (52033391830) (cropped)" by All-Pro Reels is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Yet another star starting pitcher is headed from Queens to Arlington.
The New York Mets have agreed on a deal to send righty starter Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, as reported by MLB.com's Mark Feinsand and ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Minor league infielder Luisangel Acuña, the 3rd-ranked prospect in the Rangers organization according to MLB Pipeline and brother of Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., will be going to the Mets in the deal for Scherzer, who waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the completion of the deal. The Mets will also pay $35 million over the remainder of Scherzer's contract, including a $43.33 million player option for 2024 that Scherzer exercised as part of the deal.
Just last night Scherzer pitched seven innings giving up only one run on a solo home run by Luis Garcia in a 5-1 win at Citi Field against the Washington Nationals, the team Mad Max helped lead to the 2019 World Series championship. After the game, Scherzer told reporters that he needed to "have a conversation" with the Mets' front office in regards to their future plans after the team traded veteran reliever David Robertson to the Miami Marlins. It's possible that Scherzer requested a trade then.
Of course, Texas acquired former Met Jacob deGrom in free agency this past offseason but the flamethrowing starter suffered an elbow injury early in the season, requiring his second Tommy John surgery which will keep him out until August of next year, if things go according to plan, and leaving many wondering how effective deGrom will be when he does return.
Scherzer has had an inconsistent 2023 season, 9-4 but with a 4.01 ERA over 107 ⅔ innings pitched. He's also given up 1.9 home runs per 9 IP; the highest rate of his career. Perhaps being reunited with pitching coach Mike Maddux in Arlington, who helped guide Scherzer to back-to-back National League Cy Young awards in 2016 and 2017 for Washington, will help Mad Max turn things around.
It was a short-lived reunion with the Mets for Scherzer and Justin Verlander; who were also teammates for the Detroit Tigers from 2010-2014. Baseball fans will now likely be dreaming about a potential late-season or even postseason lone star showdown between the two, as sources have reported the Houston Astros have kicked the tires on bringing Verlander back after he left the team in free agency. Verlander won the American League Cy Young award for Houston last season and went 2-0 in four postseason starts for the World Series champions. Verlander himself has a no-trade clause in his contract so, just like with Scherzer, he can veto any potential deal. With the Astros two games behind the Rangers in the AL West, it would be a marquee matchup if the two would take the mound against each other with the division lead (or more) on the line.
Of course fans may also be looking ahead to the Acuña brothers facing off in the NL East for the better part of the next decade as well.
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