Mets trade Max Scherzer to Rangers for Luisangel Acuña

The Mets have traded veteran right-handed pitcher Max Scherzer to the Rangers, and the deal is done, per Jon Heyman. In return, the Mets will get 21-year-old prospect Luisangel Acuña and pay down Scherzer’s salary so that the Rangers are only on the hook for $22.5 million of it, per Andy Martino. There had been some reports over the past couple of hours that suggested the deal might not happen, but any of those concerns seem to have been resolved.

Just two days ago, the Mets signified that they were going to be sellers at the deadline by trading David Robertson, their closer, to the division rival Marlins. But a Scherzer trade would really firm up the notion that the team is being realistic about its very, very low odds of making the playoffs this year. Scherzer could end up in Texas through the 2024 season if he were to choose not to opt out of the third year of his contract.

Signed to a three-year, $130 million deal by the Mets ahead of the 2021 season, Scherzer put up the best single-season ERA of his career that year with a 2.29. The caveat there was that he threw his lowest number of innings in a full season at 145.2, but it was a very good regular season for him nonetheless.

In the 2021 Wild Card round, however, Scherzer got rocked in a game the Mets lost to the Padres. And this year, he has a 4.01 ERA and a 4.73 FIP over the course of 107.2 innings. He also served a ten-game suspension early this season for a violation of the league’s sticky stuff policy.