This NL East team deserves credit for their trade deadline haul

The New York Mets have been the biggest disappointment in baseball. As the Mets brass awoke on the morning of the trade deadline, their team, which boasted the highest payroll in the history of North American sports, was 18 games out of first place in the NL East and six games out of the final NL wild-card spot.

Mets GM Billy Eppler, as widely expected, traded third baseman, Eduardo Escobar, relievers David Robertson and Dominic Leone, and outfielders Mark Canha and Tommy Pham, all veterans who were on expiring contracts and unlikely to return in 2024.

With the blessing of Mets owner Steve Cohen, Eppler stunned Mets fans and traded future Hall-of-Fame pitchers Justin Verlander to Houston and Max Scherzer to Texas. 

Verlander, 40, and Scherzer, 39, had rocky 2023 seasons in New York. Verlander started off the season on the injured list and made just 16 starts with the Mets, posting a 3.15 ERA and 81 strikeouts across 94.1 innings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio plummeted from 6.4 in 2022 to 2.6 in 2023. 

Scherzer battled through injuries and was suspended in April for using illegal substances. The veteran posted a 4.01 ERA with 121 strikeouts across 19 starts. Scherzer allowed a whopping 23 home runs, the sixth most in the league. If Scherzer had pitched better, the Mets would have been buying and not selling.

Cohen deserves much credit for signing off on Verlander and Scherzer trades. Cohen had to eat some serious cash to trade the two players, each of which is making $43.3 million this season. The Mets sent at least $35 million ($52.5 million if the 2025 option vests) to Houston with Verlander and around $36 million with Scherzer to Texas. 

The decision by Cohen to not only move on from two pitchers who had been showing concerning signs of falloff but also to pay down the majority of each player's contract helped the Mets receive better prospect packages. Essentially Cohen started a new blueprint we could see other teams follow, buying prospects. 

No other owner can buy prospects to the extent Cohen can. Instead of rebuilding over multiple seasons, Cohen's finances rebuilt the Mets farm system in four days.

In exchange for Scherzer, the Mets received 21-year-old shortstop Luisangel Acuna, MLB.com's 44th-ranked prospect and brother of Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. In exchange for Verlander, New York received the Astros' top two options, according to MLB.com's Jim Callis, outfielders Drew Gilbert (No. 68 overall) and Ryan Clifford. 

New York boasted a below-average farm system before Eppler started selling off pieces. The Mets now have a robust system thanks to many shrewd trades. 

According to MLB Pipeline, four of the Mets' top nine prospects were acquired in the last week, and nine of their top 26 prospects were added in the previous six weeks.

The Mets added Acuna (No. 2 in the system), Gilbert (No. 4), Clifford (No. 6), 18-year-old infielder Marco Vargas (No. 9), Triple-A starting pitcher Justin Jarvis (No. 15), Double-A starting pitcher Coleman Crow (No. 16), 19-year-old catcher Ronald Hernandez (No. 21), 23-year old shortstop Jeremiah Jackson (No. 22), and Double-A starting pitcher Landon Marceaux (No. 25.)

New York now has five of baseball's top 79 prospects.

If you need further proof, Eppler and Cohen made the right decision to tear it down: the Mets lost to the second-worst team in baseball, the Kansas City Royals, on Tuesday night, thanks to a game-ending balk by rookie Josh Walker.