In Wednesday's blog I asked if or how long it would take for a bigger name to get traded. As it turned out the answer was Saturday.
Yesterday the New York Mets sent Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers for Luisangel Acuna. It was reported that the Rangers will pick up $15 million dollars of Scherzer's remaining contract. Scherzer also activated his player option for the 2024 season forgiving his opt out opportunity at the end of the season.
Scherzer is a three-time Cy Young award winner and has won a World Series, but this has been a down year for Scherzer. In 19 starts this season Scherzer is a solid 9-4, but his ERA is 4.01. That would be the highest ERA Scherzer has had in a season since his rookie season in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Scherzer's has been good in two of his last three starts. In his last start for the Mets, he pitched 7 innings giving up 6 hits and 1 run against the Washington Nationals July 28th. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 16th Scherzer allowed just 1 hit over 7 innings. Scherzer did struggled against the Boston Red Sox on July 22nd giving up 5 runs on 6 hits.
The question will be, which Scherzer are the Rangers going to get. It's doubtful that they'll get the 3-time Cy Young award winner version of Scherzer, but he should provide some veteran stability to the Texas rotation.
Scherzer joins a Rangers rotation that has gotten a very good season out of Nathan Eovaldi and very solid seasons out of Jon Gray and Dane Dunning. Martin Perez and Andrew Heany both have ERAs near 5.00, so you'd have to think that Scherzer will bump one of those two from the starting rotation or will the Rangers try to use a 6-man rotation?
The Rangers currently lead the American League West by 1 game. The Houston Astros are the team that's right behind the Rangers, but even if Texas doesn't manage to win the division, they should still find their way into the playoffs as a wild card team. Of course, the Rangers would prefer to go into the playoffs as a division winner than a wild card.
In return for Scherzer the Mets receive a 21-year-old middle infielder in Acuna. In case you're wondering when you saw the last name yes, he is the younger brother of Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr.
Acuna played 84 games at Double-A for the Rangers. He hit .315 with 25 doubles, 7 home runs and 51 RBI's. Acuna has also stolen 42 bases while only being caught 7 times.
Scherzer is the second pitcher that the Mets have traded this week as their closer David Robertson was dealt to the Miami Marlins earlier in the week. With just a couple of days left until the trade deadline you have to wonder if the Mets are done making moves.
So, what do you think of the Scherzer trade? And do you think that the Mets are done making trades?
Also, what do you think the Rangers will do? There are still quite a few rumors out there that the Rangers would like to add to their bullpen. Do you see the rangers going out and adding another big-name type of pitcher to their bullpen or do you think they just might add some extra arms to that bullpen?
As we're headed towards the trade deadline are you excited? Do you see a lot of deals happening or do you think that will get a quieter trade deadline? Are you hoping that your favorite team picks up some players and tries to grab a wild card spot or would you rather see them move their veteran players and try to rebuild.
Don't forget to look for me on Twitter, I'm @Burketime.
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