Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets are continuing their search for a top of the rotation mate alongside ace right-hander Jacob deGrom. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, Billy Eppler and company are “aggressively pursuing” 3-time Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer.
While the Mets certainly seem to be making a very strong effort to land the future Hall of Famer, it’s very hard to see a deal actually coming to place. It has been known that Scherzer strongly prefers landing on the west coast.
Last season back at the trading deadline, Scherzer limited his list of teams to all west coast teams. He of course ultimately ended up in Los Angeles with the Dodgers where he pitched to a 1.98 ERA and struck out 89 batters over 11 starts.
Scherzer finished another spectacular season third in NL Cy Young voting and 14th in NL MVP voting after he pitched to a 2.46 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 2.97 FIP, and had 243 strikeouts over 30 starts. He has now found his way into the top-5 in Cy Young voting in eight of the past nine seasons.
The other teams said to be in on Scherzer are all on the west coast; the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Los Angeles Angels. While Mets owner Steve Cohen is a big Scherzer fan and money talks, it certainly won’t be easy.
The Mets are certainly aware of this, and their next top option according to Heyman, is right-hander Kevin Gausman. Along with New York, the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners are known teams in on the 30-year old.
Either way, we should find out in the coming days, as both Scherzer and Gausman are expected to sign prior to the December 1 lockdown.
