The JV Question

 

See what happens, Steve? See what happens when you sign a bunch of 40 year olds instead of building upwards?

So, the 2023 Mets ended up being a bold experiment in the field of piling an already-good team with contracts in the hopes of making it better, only for the two biggest contracts to sink solely because they'd been given to a couple of pitchers over 38. The Scherzer and Verlander era of Mets baseball ended after 3 months, with only like 2 or 3 months of them actually being active together. Steve Cohen meant this to be a last hurrah for the 2010s Tigers, and a bulking up of Cy Young winners in the absence of deGrom, what he got was two very human seasons from two guys who didn't need to perform well anymore. These are both first-ballot of Hall of Famers with enough accolades at this point, and a ring each. It was nice to have 'em here, but if the team's gonna sink and not even get over the Marlins, it just points out how meaningless this whole experiment was.

Anyway, once David Robertson was dealt, Max Scherzer went to complain only to get dealt to Texas himself, which is...just a little funny when you think about it. And just like that, the Max Scherzer era of Mets baseball ended after a year and a half of no playoff success and very okay stuff from Scherzer. Like, Scherz was 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA, but we've all seen him do better, and he's also 38 and missed parts of last season. This is the Scherzer I kinda thought would be showing up in Queens, and while it must have been nice for merchandise, it didn't really do anything in the long run. 

So now Scherzer's gone, and Pham and Canha might be going. What does this mean for Verlander? JV, who is 40, is still signed for another year and a half. He's actually built himself a solid enough season, with a 3.24 ERA and 76 Ks in 15 starts. It's not, like, close to what he did last year, or even with the Astros in general, but he can still pitch, and he's still one of the best in the game. There's a chance the Mets trade him too. It's not as clean-cut as Scherzer because there's that extra year, but it's an option, and there are competitors who might need the help. And if Scherzer was underwhelmed with the Mets' level of success this year, I bet Verlander has to be bummed about it too. Here he is, one of the best pitchers of his generation, right off a World Series ring and a Cy Young, doing his best for a team that once again doesn't have the run support to do anything. It's gotta absolutely crush him. And if my instinct's right and JV doesn't even get dealt, well he got to watch Scherzer suit up for a competitor while he gets stuck here to round out the year.

The Mets thankfully have enough guys to start games if they lose both Scherzer and Verlander. Quintana, Carrasco, Senga, Peterson and Megill are all healthy, and while it's not an ideal rotation, it'll get the job done for a bit. There's a chance Cohen could just have Quintana dealt instead of JV, that's just as well. But for a season that began with such trumpets and such promise to lead to losing some of the big marquee pitchers...that has gotta hurt. It's a needed move, but it's gotta be painful as hell for them, and I really wish that this one would have been the one that worked.

For now, we'll just have to see what the Mets do with Verlander. Part of me thinks they keep him. Another part of me wonders what that 35 would look like in red pinstripes.

Coming Tonight- A Chicago White Sock that I am pretty sure is staying in town.