NEW YORK – In this hyperactive period of free agent negotiations, the Mets have landed a Hall-of-Fame bound ace.
Max Scherzer and the Mets are nearing the finish line Monday on a three-year, $130 million deal according to Jon Heyman, an MLB Network insider.
Earlier Monday, SNY’s Andy Martino pegged the Mets and Scherzer as closing in on an agreement and Joel Sherman of the New York Post and MLB Network had the Mets offer to Scherzer at the $129 million range for three years.
According to Sherman, the deal enables Scherzer to opt out after the 2023 season and it contains a full no-trade clause.
Any way you slice it, this would be the largest average annual contract in MLB history, at roughly $43.3 million – racing past the $36 million AAV of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, on a nine-year deal signed before the 2020 season.
Scherzer, 37, would team atop the Mets’ rotation with Jacob deGrom, joining a win-now club that added All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor before the 2021 season – the first major splash under new owner Steve Cohen – but finished with a disappointing 77-85 record.
A three-time Cy Young award winner and a legendary workhorse, Scherzer went 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA with the Los Angeles Dodgers, after his mid-summer trade from the Washington Nationals.
At that time, it was said that Scherzer strongly preferred a deal to a West Coast contender. And in this free agent environment, the Mets overcame heavy interest in Scherzer by the Dodgers, Giants and Angels with their record-setting deal.
Scherzer’s burn-to-win mentality has included appearances out of the bullpen during the 2017, 2019 and 2021 postseasons.
Over the last eight full MLB regular seasons, Scherzer has averaged 208 innings per year.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi had the Mets closing in on a Scherzer deal late Sunday night, during this frenzied MLB period; the current collective bargaining agreement expires Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., when there could be a lockout that freezes free agent transactions.
Scherzer ranks fourth among active players in career wins with 190. He’s won at least 18 games four times in his career, which includes stints with the Diamondbacks, Tigers, Nationals and Dodgers.
He won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019 and has posted an ERA below 3.00 in seven of the past nine seasons.
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