NEW YORK — Max Scherzer returned to Citi Field on Monday as a member of the Texas Rangers – nonetheless mystified as to how the New York Mets’ season, which started with championship hopes for a group with the most important payroll in main league historical past, unspooled to the purpose that he was a part of a trade-deadline selloff.
“That’s a billion-dollar question, because if you could answer that question, I think everybody would want to tell you how you actually win here at the major league level,” Scherzer stated within the Rangers’ dugout earlier than the opener of a three-game collection in opposition to the Mets.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner, who made his fifth begin for Texas on Saturday, is not going to pitch this week in opposition to the Mets, who entered Monday final within the NL East and 9 video games out of a playoff spot. New York hasn’t completed in final place since 2003 and hasn’t been in final place this late in a season since 2005.
“I don’t know,” Scherzer stated. “It was just a combination of everything. It just seemed like when we pitched, we didn’t hit. If we hit, we didn’t pitch. And if we did both, then maybe the bullpen didn’t do its job. It was just like a combination of everything of things just not going right.”
Scherzer was traded with money to the Rangers for Double-A prospect Luisangel Acuña – the youthful brother of Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. – on July 30, fewer than 48 hours after profitable his remaining begin for New York.
Scherzer stated he and different Mets veterans hoped proprietor Steve Cohen and basic supervisor Billy Eppler would maintain the group collectively in hopes of creating a late playoff push or contending once more in 2024. New York went 101-61 throughout Scherzer’s first season with the group final yr, when it misplaced a best-of-three wild-card collection to the San Diego Padres within the first spherical of the playoffs.
“That was our wishful thinking,” Scherzer stated. “We still believed that we could still find a way to get back into the ’23 playoff race. We didn’t think we were out of it. I get where our record was and where we’re at in the standings and how we were playing. I’m not oblivious. But in that clubhouse, we absolutely believed we had a team that could win.”
The Mets, who opened the season with a payroll of greater than $350 million, rebuilt their farm system by buying and selling impending free brokers David Robertson, Mark Canha, Tommy Pham and Dominic Leone on the deadline together with Justin Verlander, who was signed via 2024 with a 2025 possibility. As a part of the commerce with the Rangers, Scherzer exercised his $43.3 million participant possibility for 2024.
“The common viewpoint amongst all of us players was OK, let’s go for it in 2024, we’ve got the talent here to do it,” Scherzer stated. “And it became obvious that wasn’t the direction.”
Scherzer acknowledged his struggles to carry out at his common stage this season for the Mets. The 39-year-old right-hander went 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA – virtually a full run increased than his profession mark – whereas coping with neck and shoulder accidents. He additionally served a 10-game suspension after being ejected from an April recreation at Dodger Stadium for having an unlawful sticky substance on his hand.
“I wish I would have pitched better,” Scherzer stated. “I don’t like to point fingers unless I’m pointing fingers at myself. And I can definitely point the finger at myself.”
Scherzer is 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 30 2/3 innings for the Rangers, who fell out of first place within the AL West for the primary time since April 8 by shedding Sunday for the ninth time in 10 video games.
Texas supervisor Bruce Bochy stated the outgoing Scherzer has slot in nicely along with his new teammates, together with a well-known face in former Mets ace Jacob deGrom, who signed a five-year take care of Texas final December however underwent Tommy John surgical procedure after making six begins. Scherzer stated he started buying and selling barbs and inside jokes with deGrom as quickly as he joined the Rangers.
“He’s got a lot of energy, I tell you,” Bochy stated. “This guy watches the game – not just his games but games that he’s not pitching in. He’s got a great sense of humor, too. He’s had me laughing a few times in the dugout through these tough times.”
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