The Texas Rangers made a significant trade on Saturday, acquiring New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer in a blockbuster deal. This move comes in the aftermath of Scherzer expressing his discontent following the Mets' trade of closer David Robertson to the Miami Marlins. The 38-year-old pitcher had hinted at having a conversation with the Mets' front office, and it seems that conversation ultimately led to the trade.
Is Max Scherzer back?
The Mets signed Scherzer to a three-year, 130-million contract this past offseason, hoping he would be yet another piece to get New York back deep in the postseason. However, Scherzer or the Mets themselves haven't quite lived up to the expectations this year.
Scherzer is 9-4 this season, sporting an ERA of 4.01 with 121 strike-outs. But he's also been plagued by nagging injuries this year that's kept him on and off the injured list. However, he has seemed to have found a bit of his form back over the last three games, having thrown for 20 innings with a 2.70 ERA and 20 strike-outs.
Maybe it was too little too late for Scherzer to come into form this season. He obviously wasn't the only thing wrong with the Mets this year, but at times he was definitely part of their issues. That doesn't mean he can't prove to be heavily beneficial to the Rangers now. In fact, he's likely to fill the huge void left by Jacob deGrom.
Max Scherzer can be Jacob deGrom's replacement
It was clear that the Rangers put a lot of stock into Jacob deGrom when they signed him this offseason. The five-year, $185 million deal that signed him says so anyways. When he went down, even though it wasn't shocking to most because of his litany of injuries over the last several seasons, it still was a damper to the Rangers organization. He was their top of the rotation guy, along with Nathan Eovaldi, who had to become the ace in deGrom's absence. The Rangers, however, were still in need of some pitching if they were going to make a strong run in the postseason.
The Rangers pitching staff is just coming off one of their worst stretches of the season, where they gave up 41 runs in a four-game span, that led to the highest ERA in baseball in a seven-day timeframe (8.21), per ESPN. It seems the perfect time for a Max Scherzer arrival.
This whole situation is quite ironic, though, right? The Mets, although not for lack of trying, wanted deGrom to be a Met, yet couldn't get him to sign with them. He then ends up with the Rangers, gets hurt, per usual, leaving Texas to rely on their league-best offense to carry the team until they hope they can find a better option at the MLB trade deadline. And wouldn't you know it, there's Scherzer, searching for answers as to why his current team is folding it in after giving away their closer. Knock, knock — hello, Max, would you like to join the Rangers?
Trades at the deadline are always the same, with teams going in opposite directions of each other with one team prospering for the present and the other faltering, looking for hope towards the future. The Rangers and Mets are clearly on different trajectories this season, yet many thought they'd be on similar ones, headed toward the playoffs, possibly even playing each other in the end.
Now, the Rangers find themselves once again taking something from the Mets that they once highly valued, hoping it will elevate their own aspirations and lead them to the pinnacle of success. Scherzer's role was initially intended to help a team reach the World Series, but now fate has brought him to the Rangers, much to the reluctance of the Mets.
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