So far, the highlight of Max Scherzer [1]’s career as a New York Met is he has agreed to a contract of $130 million over three years to be a New York Met [2]. It won’t show up in the main statistical body of Scherzer’s Baseball-Reference entry, but it’s more than a lot of recent Mets have done to elevate our mood.
It’s November. Scherzer can’t pitch for us yet. But he can goose our outlook, and oh boy, has he. Yes, the multiple Cy Young winner will take Steve Cohen’s generous offer and join our other multiple Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom and form a one-two punch that should have visions of being on the right side of knockout after knockout dancing in our heads.
DeGrom and Scherz’
Before the bullpen stirs
DeGrom and Scherz’
As the K board whirs
DeGrom and Scherz’
Poke the other teams’ nerves
DeGrom and Scherz’
The high holy duo a Mets fan observes
DeGrom and Scherz’
Here’s hoping Steve keeps funds in reserves
Twenty-four other players will fill out the roster most days. We know who a lot of them are. A few holes remain. Maybe more than a few. Y’know what? They’ll be taken care of. Steve’s got this. He got us three legitimate players on Friday [3] and a future Hall of Famer still riding his extended prime on Monday. I’m not interested at the moment in what hasn’t gone right in the past or what might go wrong in the future. I’m interested in rooting for a team that added Max Scherzer as co-ace to Jacob deGrom on the other end of a weekend that began with adding Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha to our lineup and general depth of being.
This is better than wondering what, if anything, the Wilpons can or might do.
Scherzer’s leanings were first reported in earnest Sunday night. He kept getting closer, we were told, without the deal being closed. I wondered what else he needed beyond the $40+ million a year for pitching a baseball. I was reminded of Joseph Hewes, delegate to the Continental Congress from North Carolina in 1776, who, upon hearing the first reading of the Declaration of Independence, expresses grave concern to Thomas Jefferson that “nowhere do you mention deep sea fishing rights.”
For $40+ million a year, Max Scherzer can buy himself an ocean. Or lease whichever one Steve Cohen owns.
Max landing on the shores of Flushing Bay felt too close to not reel in as Sunday night became Monday morning. Average annual value, the reporters said, had hit $42 million. If this was an elaborate prank, it was an expensive one, at least as measured in the toll it would take on our collective sanity had fruition proved elusive. No, this couldn’t be a tease. Scherzer didn’t have to be a Met when Sunday began. He had to be one before Monday grew dark.
And so he became one. He hasn’t pitched. He hasn’t tried on a jersey and smiled for the Zoom screenshots. If he’s taken the physical that makes everything official, word hasn’t leaked. But he’s here in all but physical presence ahead of the expected lockout (in a sport where megacontracts are being issued from coast to coast). He’s here because the Mets go after big names with big track records with big money and, lo and behold, such an approach works.
It will work even better when Max Scherzer pitches for the New York Mets. Soon enough he will.