The New York Mets have traded right-handed veteran pitcher Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers for their No. 3 prospect in shortstop Luisangel Acuna, per multiple reports on Saturday night.
The veteran right-hander, who has a $43.3 million player option in his contract next season and roughly $14 million this season, waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the deal. The Mets will pay $36 million of what Scherzer is owed, which helped boost owner Steve Cohen’s return.
The Texas prospect is a 21-year-old shortstop playing in Double-A and is the brother of Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna. He’s currently ranked No. 44 within MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects and is expected to be the Mets’ No. 1 prospect by next season.
Scherzer had struggled during his second season with the Mets, going 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA and a league-leading 23 home runs allowed. Now, he’s headed to a Rangers team that acquired another major Met to bolster their pitching rotation having signed Jacob deGrom to a massive five-year, $185 million deal over the winter.
The former Cy Young Award winner with the Mets, though, is out for the remainder of the 2023 season after undergoing surgery on a torn UCL. It’s left the Rangers in need of another marquee arm for the stretch run as they are two games up in the American League West.
The Mets officially began selling on Thursday night when they dealt veteran reliever David Robertson to the Miami Marlins for a pair of prospects.
