Max Scherzer Exposed Billy Eppler on His Way Out the Door
In one of the biggest moves of the 2023 MLB trade deadline, the New York Mets traded starting pitcher Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers. Scherzer waived his no-trade clause to get the deal done. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic got the scoop from the former Met on his thought process for wanting out:
“I talked to Billy. I was like, ‘OK are we reloading for 2024?’ He goes, ‘No, we’re not. Basically our vision now is for 2025-26, ’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.'”
This represented a change in organizational direction that the 39-year-old Scherzer didn’t want to stick around for. If you’re a Mets fan, this is something that should really disappoint you.
Billy Eppler Has Failed
If the Scherzer deal alone wasn’t enough of an indicator that the Mets don’t plan on going for it this year, 2022 Cy Young winner Justin Verlander was then sent back to the Houston Astros. He had some questions about the team’s direction as well. Needless to say, punting on a team that entered the season with the highest opening-day payroll in baseball history at $353.5 million is brutal. It’s another really bad look for Mets GM Billy Eppler, who has failed to put a winning product on the field despite a number of talented players and nearly unlimited money.
Eppler’s vision extending to 2026 is quite interesting. He’ll be lucky to still be employed by the Mets three years from now. Mismanaging Steve Cohen’s resources as poorly as he has isn’t the way to hold down a job. The Mets are 50-56 and going nowhere fast.
Max Scherzer owns a 9-4 record and 4.01 ERA with 121 strikeouts over 107.2 innings pitched. The addition of the three-time Cy Young Award winner should strengthen the Texas pitching staff, especially after losing Jacob DeGrom for the remainder of the season. The Rangers are in first place in the AL West.
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