Before the frenzied trade deadline activity, the Mets dropped one of the first big dominoes by trading ace Max Scherzer to the Rangers on Friday. On Tuesday, Scherzer divulged what led to his departure from Queens, and what he learned about the club’s plans for the immediate future in conversations with general manager Billy Eppler and team owner Steve Cohen.
Scherzer told The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal that it was not his intention to leave the Mets, but that he agreed to waive his no-trade clause once he learned that the franchise was setting its retooling sights not toward 2024, but more toward the ’25 and ‘26 campaigns, calling the ’24 season a “transitory year.”
“I talked to Billy,” Scherzer said. “I was like, ‘O.K., are we reloading for 2024?’ He goes, ‘No, we’re not. Basically our vision now is for 2025-2026, ‘25 at the earliest, more like ‘26. We’re going to be making trades around that.’
