![]() ![]() But not making any offer would mark a complete 180 from a club that many executives long assumed would be all-in on the two-way superstar. ![]() It's true that Cohen making the highest offer might not sway Ohtani's decision anyway. Yet, his purported comments to Scherzer and Eppler's own public remarks imply the Mets won't even bother participating in the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. On Sunday, Eppler swore the Mets weren't rebuilding - "It's not a liquidation," he repeatedly insisted. The Mets will have to try again when it comes to keeping it straight with their fan base. We're going to be making trades around that.'" Basically our vision now is for 2025-2026, ‘25 at the earliest, more like ‘26. "I was like, OK, are we reloading for 2024?' He goes, ‘No, we're not. Scherzer promptly waived his no-trade clause and was sent to Texas. Per FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, Eppler told Scherzer the club does not plan to sign "upper-echelon guys." Rather, New York will focus on smaller deals and 2024 will be a "transitory" year. Following last week's Robertson trade, Scherzer directly asked Eppler if the Mets would be pursuing free agents this offseason, or even assembling a team that could compete for a World Series next year. "Scherlander," we'll always have the doubleheader versus Cleveland). It sounded that way to Scherzer and Verlander, too, evidenced by their respective departures to the Rangers and Astros (R.I.P. Sounds like they're punting on 2024 to me. ![]() Curiously, more than a couple of their other deadline pickups were teenagers. The Mets also received two of the top talents in Houston's farm system in outfielders Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford. This includes adding top 50 prospects like Luisangel Acuña, who looks to share a fair amount of baseball DNA with his brother, Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. In the span of five days, the Mets emphatically revitalized their farm system. Rather, Cohen used his financial might to pay down player salaries in exchange for bigger prospect gains. It's true that we can't call it a pure fire sale - how do we feel about swap meet? - because most of these players weren't dealt at discounted prices. We've known for weeks the Mets would likely be sellers, but to what extent? The question was answered in full Tuesday, as New York jettisoned Justin Verlander, Tommy Pham and Dominic Leone, this after previously parting with Max Scherzer, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar. That ultimately prompted Cohen and general manager Billy Eppler to take drastic measures at the deadline. The 2023 Mets were an underwhelming, underperforming group of money-making veterans that couldn't play well enough to stop their downward spiral. The third-year owner took a massive risk, assembling the largest payroll in MLB history. But at this year's trade deadline, the richest man in baseball turned on a thousand-megawatt spotlight and aimed it on Flushing, Queens. Steve Cohen has a history of stealing the show during the winter hot stove season. ![]()
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