Yesterday, the struggling New York Mets traded 3-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers for outfield prospect Luisangel Acuna, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna, Jr.
The move greatly shocked Mets slugger Pete Alonso while Justin Verlander said he was "a bit surprised." No doubt Verlander is thinking if he will be shipped off between now and the trade deadline on August 1st.
From where I sit, I cannot say that I am shocked. Although I have not been paying attention to the minutia of the 2023 MLB season, I have paid sufficient attention to the standing to see the Mets are the biggest disappointment in all of MLB. A Mets team with Scherzer and Verlander at the top of the rotation was not expected to be 18 games behind the Braves in the NL East. Shortly before his trade, Scherzer expressed displeasure with the Mets trading closer David Robertson to the divisional rival Miami Marlins and wanted to talk to the Mets front office. Well, we can see how that conversation ended.
All of this on top of the fact that Scherzer had a player option at the end of the 2023 campaign, something had to give. So why not get a long-term asset in return? If the younger Acuna is anything like his older brother, the Braves-Mets rivalry could get very interesting in the years to come.
Let us also keep in mind that Scherzer turned 39 this past Thursday. Although Scherzer went 9-4 for a sub-.500 team and fanned 121 batters in only 107.2 innings pitched this season, his 4.01 ERA is the highest he has posted since 2011 when he was member of the Detroit Tigers. As part of the trade, Scherzer has opted to remain with the Rangers for the 2024 season. There is only so much Scherzer has left to give, but what he has to give might be enough to help put the Rangers over the edge and win their first ever World Series.
The Rangers have been in first place in the AL West since May 6th but have lost 7 of their last 10 games and are only a game ahead of the defending World Series champion Houston Astros. Texas was just swept by the San Diego Padres, a team which has been just as disappointing as the Mets in 2023. Under the circumstances, reinforcements were needed and Scherzer along with the subsequent acquisition of starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the St. Louis Cardinals (yet another disappointing team) might be just what the doctor ordered.
As of this writing, Scherzer has a career record of 210-106 with a 3.15 ERA with 3314 career strikeouts against only 731 walks. There is a good chance that Scherzer will pass both the late Phil Niekro (3342) and Greg Maddux (3371) and finish the season 10th on MLB's all-time strikeouts list.
No comments:
Post a Comment