In February of 2018, then New York Rangers' GM Jeff Gorton sent out a letter to the fanbase informing them that the current core had gone as far as it could go and that the team was going to be sellers at the trade deadline. True to his word, the Blueshirts had a selloff that would make Charlie Finley proud.
But while Gorton may have turned over the roster, he didn't tear it down all the way to the wall studs and floor joist the way some GMs do. He kept some players around like Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich, and Henrik Lundqvist. The following year he traded for Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox, and in the offseason he signed Artemi Planarian. In short, by opting to do a retool instead of a classic rebuild, Gorton shortened the period of time the Rangers missed the playoffs by as much as two years.
GM Billy Eppler did not send a letter to the fanbase indicating the Mets were going to be sellers at this year's trade deadline. He didn't need to. It was obvious to all but the most incurable optimists that the Amazins were not a playoff team, especially after a brutal 7-19 June. The only question was how big of a selloff were we going to see?
Like Gorton five years earlier, Eppler did not gut the team. Indeed, of the five players the Mets shipped out, three were free agents after this season, one was a free agent after '24 and another had an option for '25. If anything, the Mets are in better shape now than the Rangers were after their selloff in '18.
Not that you'd be able to convince the Flushing Faithful of that. To listen to some of them, you'd think Eppler broke up the 1927 Yankees. Whatever your feelings about Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, Mark Canha and Tommy Pham, they were not Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Wilcy Moore, Tony Lazzeri and Bob Meusel. Anymore than Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
Far from being a contender, the Mets were a flawed team the moment they left Port St. Lucie in March. Their pitching was inconsistent, as was their hitting and defense. At no point during the season did they give any indication they were capable of going on a sustained run. Just the opposite, in fact. Games they found a way to win last year, they lost this year. The resiliency that defined them all throughout 2022, alluded them in '23.
Scherzer, in particular, was never the same pitcher after his oblique injury last year. He was hit hard down the stretch, including a late-season game against the Braves and a game one shellacking against the Padres in the postseason, where he gave up four homers and seven earned runs. This year in 100 innings pitched he's given up 23 home runs, tied for 7th most in the majors. And what does it say about this team when the most consistent hitter in the lineup - Pham - was brought in to provide depth.
All Eppler did by acknowledging the painful truth was cut his losses. His deadline moves restocked a badly depleted pipeline with some top-level prospects, two of which could conceivably make the team as early as next season. In less than a week, he transformed one of the thinest farm systems in major league baseball into one of the deepest. I've been a critic of Eppler since his arrival from Anaheim two years ago. Suffice to say, he's converted me.
But while Eppler deserves a lot of credit, it was Steve Cohen's checkbook that made it possible for the Mets to wind up with the likes of Luisangel Acuña, Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford. All tolled, Cohen swallowed some $88 million in salary to facilitate the Scherzer and Verlander trades. To paraphrase a line out of the Mel Brooks movie History of the World, Part One, "It's good to be rich."
And it is that very checkbook that makes me think 2024 won't be a lost season for the Mets, regardless of what Eppler may or may not have said to Scherzer. Somehow I can't imagine someone as competitive as Cohen not being active in the free agent market. Yes, it's unlikely that Shohei Ohtani will want to move all the way to the east coast, but that doesn't mean that there won't be other pitchers and / or hitters out there that Cohen will be able to entice with his millions. The allure of playing in New York does have its appeal.
The fact is, pitching aside, the Mets still have a formidable lineup, capable of scoring runs. It is not inconceivable that Alonso, Lindor and Francisco Alvarez could all finish with 30 or more home runs this year. With the return of a healthy Edwin Diaz and a revamped starting rotation, this team could contend for a wild card in 2024. This isn't the NFL or NHL where rebuilds can take years. If Eppler and Cohen play their cards right, Mets fans might have something to cheer about by '25.
The bottom line is Eppler and Cohen did what they had to do. There was no other option. Sometimes, in order to take two steps forward, you have to take one step back.
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