Call Mets' moves what you want . . . just don't say they're rebuilding
Mets general manager Billy Eppler talks with the media before a game against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on Sunday, July 30, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Buck Showalter called what the Mets are doing “repositioning.” Billy Eppler called it “repurposing.”
Whatever Mets fans want to call what the Mets are doing — including the trade of Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers, which was made official on Sunday — Eppler just asks that you please don’t call it “rebuilding.”
“I do want to be clear,” the general manager said on Sunday afternoon, “it’s not a rebuild. It’s not a fire sale. It’s not a liquidation.”
A rebuild, Eppler said, means “you have to endure five, six, seven years of losing, and we don’t have the appetite for that. We’re not going to do that.”
What about next season? Do the Mets plan to try to contend?
“That doesn’t mean we’re punting 2024,” Eppler said. “We’re going to have a competitive team.”
That competitive team will not include Scherzer. The future Hall of Famer waived his no-trade clause to complete the trade with Texas that was agreed to on Saturday but not officially announced by the Mets until 1:06 p.m. on Sunday.
The Mets, who traded closer David Robertson to Miami for two prospects on Thursday, received another prospect from Texas for Scherzer: shortstop Luisangel Acuna, the younger brother of Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr.
Acuna, 21, was rated as the 44th-best prospect in the majors by MLB Pipeline. In 84 games with Double-A Frisco this season, the switch hitter had a .315/.377/.453 slash line, 25 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 51 RBIs and 42 stolen bases.
Acuna will report to Double-A Binghamton and will start out at shortstop, but he also will see time at his other positions (second base and centerfield). With Francisco Lindor signed through 2031 to man shortstop for the Mets — and no indication that the Mets plan on including him in their non-fire sale before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline — Acuna likely will have to switch positions before he can become a Mets regular.
“He’s going to come in and play shortstop [at Binghamton] right away,” Eppler said, “but there’ll probably be some positional versatility. I know he’s already played a little second and centerfield. And so he’ll probably get an opportunity to do that. But I’d like to talk to him about that.”
The Mets went into this season with an MLB-record $377 million payroll and sky-high expectations, but they went into Sunday with a 49-55 record before beating the Nationals, 5-2.
Owner Steve Cohen is sending the message with the Robertson and Scherzer trades (and whatever trades are yet to come) that he wants to quickly pivot away from last offseason’s wild free-agent spending to a new strategy of using his massive wealth to “buy” prospects from other organizations to try to improve the Mets’ farm system.
“Regarding the Max trade,” Eppler said, “given the place we’re in and the odds we’re facing, it was a strategic decision.
“We kind of took this opportunity to kind of serve another goal of the organization, which is to enhance the farm system . . . This is just a repurposing of Steve’s investment in the club, and kind of shifting that investment from the team into the organization.”
Scherzer agreed to waive his no-trade clause and to exercise his player option for $43.3 million for 2024 to complete the trade. According to a source, the Rangers will pay $22.5 million of his remaining salary for this season and next, with the Mets picking up the rest (an estimated $35.8 million). That high dollar amount is why the Mets were able to get a premium prospect in Acuna.
Scherzer, 39, made 42 starts for the Mets in the last two seasons, going 20-9 with a 3.02 ERA. But his tenure was marred by losing efforts last season in Atlanta with the NL East crown on the line and in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against San Diego, which the Mets lost in three games.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
