May 18, 2022; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer (21) looks out from the dugout in the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
These three trades could help the New York Mets survive if Max Scherzer misses time with his latest injury.
Ouch! It’s the one word every New York Mets fan felt in their body and soul when Max Scherzer removed himself from his start on Wednesday. Although an official length of time he could miss remains unknown and probably will, Jon Heyman has already reported it is an oblique injury; a type with varying degrees of IL stint lengths.
The Mets have already been without Jacob deGrom all year and sophomore starter Tylor Megill recently landed on the IL as well. They can try to navigate with players such as David Peterson and Trevor Williams in the rotation. However, if the Scherzer injury is going to remove him from the rotation for long, they will need to think about trades.
May isn’t the best time to pick up an All-Star starter but this is the Mets. In 1998, they managed to snag Mike Piazza from the rival Florida Marlins just days after he was sent there from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Looking at all of the options available from the bigger names to ones that can give them a temporary solution, these are three potential trades the Mets should look to pull off as a result of losing Scherzer.
1) Mets trade: Frankie Montas is the obvious solution if Max Scherzer is out for a long time
Anyone looking to buy starting pitching this year will have Frankie Montas on their radar. The last of the Oakland Athletics players many expected to get traded in the offseason has gone 2-4 in his first 8 starts this season and delivered a 3.67 ERA. It’s about par for what everyone expected. He is pitching well despite not getting much support from his team.
Montas has long been a possible trade candidate for the Mets. They picked up his ex-teammate Chris Bassitt already when they sent J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller to Oakland after the lockout. It would cost more to acquire Montas whose contract would give them control through 2023 as well.
There are two big obstacles in acquiring Montas. One is that the A’s would probably shop him around everywhere else first before pulling the trigger. The Mets aren’t getting any sort of a discount even with Sandy Alderson’s connection to the franchise.
Secondly, Montas is out of minor league options and also too good to even demote if they were available. Perhaps a teammate such as James Kaprielian would make a little more sense although Oakland’s urgency to move on from him doesn’t match. Kaprelian is not a financial burden on Oakland so trying to land him wouldn’t come easily despite being a lesser pitcher.