In the summer of 2023, there was a collective puzzlement asking, “what are Steve Cohen/Billy Eppler/the Mets thinking??” with regards to their actions at the trade deadline.
We'll never know how 2023 would have turned out if the Mets kept Scherzer and Verlander. We do know they went into a tailspin immediately after the trades and then played very well after that. And we know that the Wild Card leaders at the time of the trade deadline did not play well. And 84 wins made the playoffs. Bottom line - it was a defensible decision to sell the old pitchers.
But the question that ultimately matters is: Did they get good value in return?
In my opinion, Luisangel Acuna is a utility man. I don't think that was good value. I like Clifford and Gilbert much more. It will be interesting to see how the Mets handle filling 1B and OF, the two positions Clifford and Gilbert are likely to play. And we also have to consider that Benge and Williams are potential OFers, too.
And a Juan Soto signing makes it that much more difficult for prospects to emerge in the OF.
Nice to see the bigger picture all laid out. Enjoyed the read. I was and remain completely satisfied that both verlander and scherzer were traded. What we got was a real chance at future success that may or may not get fulfilled, but we dumped to injured old goats that were clubhouse losers at the heart of a lot of the lousy energy of those Mets clubs. Cohen tried to catch lightning in a bottle and really was more like struck by lightning by acquiring both of them.
Nice work Taryn. Sometimes it’s all a crapshoot and deals that looked good on paper, regardless of dollars, miss the mark. The other side of 30 can be a tenuous time for ball players who often find themselves on the IL. That’s why a 15 year deal for Soto is astonishing. In just five years he’ll be 31. Do the math on his years of decline to see how fast this deal could go south. Hated that they needed to move those two future hall of farmers, but it was the right thing to do.
Thanks Steve, and I agree. I feel like I am in a very non vocal minority about Soto. I think 15 years is crazy. And he wasn’t even the best player on his team last year (lol). But he is young, established (*one* of the best), and one must speculate to accumulate as I like to say….
There's no other way to say it - 15 years is crazy. But it's the cost of doing business when you're trying to acquire one of the best young players in MLB history. A 178 OPS+ at age 25 is tremendous.
Sure, Judge was even better. But he's not a free agent and he's not 25. Judge put up his massive 223 OPS+ last season at age 32. It's possible Soto could put up numbers like that the next seven years. That would be unbelievable production and I'd be thrilled if he did that for the Mets.
We'll never know how 2023 would have turned out if the Mets kept Scherzer and Verlander. We do know they went into a tailspin immediately after the trades and then played very well after that. And we know that the Wild Card leaders at the time of the trade deadline did not play well. And 84 wins made the playoffs. Bottom line - it was a defensible decision to sell the old pitchers.
But the question that ultimately matters is: Did they get good value in return?
In my opinion, Luisangel Acuna is a utility man. I don't think that was good value. I like Clifford and Gilbert much more. It will be interesting to see how the Mets handle filling 1B and OF, the two positions Clifford and Gilbert are likely to play. And we also have to consider that Benge and Williams are potential OFers, too.
And a Juan Soto signing makes it that much more difficult for prospects to emerge in the OF.
Nice to see the bigger picture all laid out. Enjoyed the read. I was and remain completely satisfied that both verlander and scherzer were traded. What we got was a real chance at future success that may or may not get fulfilled, but we dumped to injured old goats that were clubhouse losers at the heart of a lot of the lousy energy of those Mets clubs. Cohen tried to catch lightning in a bottle and really was more like struck by lightning by acquiring both of them.
Nice work Taryn. Sometimes it’s all a crapshoot and deals that looked good on paper, regardless of dollars, miss the mark. The other side of 30 can be a tenuous time for ball players who often find themselves on the IL. That’s why a 15 year deal for Soto is astonishing. In just five years he’ll be 31. Do the math on his years of decline to see how fast this deal could go south. Hated that they needed to move those two future hall of farmers, but it was the right thing to do.
Thanks Steve, and I agree. I feel like I am in a very non vocal minority about Soto. I think 15 years is crazy. And he wasn’t even the best player on his team last year (lol). But he is young, established (*one* of the best), and one must speculate to accumulate as I like to say….
There's no other way to say it - 15 years is crazy. But it's the cost of doing business when you're trying to acquire one of the best young players in MLB history. A 178 OPS+ at age 25 is tremendous.
Sure, Judge was even better. But he's not a free agent and he's not 25. Judge put up his massive 223 OPS+ last season at age 32. It's possible Soto could put up numbers like that the next seven years. That would be unbelievable production and I'd be thrilled if he did that for the Mets.