Mets Morning News: Departure

Meet the Mets

Justin Verlander, a Met for now, and Francisco Lindor, a Met for eight more years, provided at least one afternoon of cheers in the Mets’ 5-2 win over the Nationals.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Newsday, Daily News, MLB.com, ESPN

With yesterday’s Mets victory, Justin Verlander probably became the final pitcher in baseball history to cross the 250 win plateau.

Speaking with the media before Sunday’s game, Billy Eppler made clear that he does not see what the Mets are going through as any part of a “rebuild” or a “fire sale” but rather a “repurposing” in his words.

In his final days and interviews as a Met, Max Scherzer remained perplexed and angry over his lackluster performance in 2023.

The sudden nature of the trade left the remaining players some mixture of shocked and curious with the direction of the team and of their safety on it.

Just about any way you look at it, both sides end up getting what they want (for the moment) in the Max Scherzer trade.

On Sunday, the Mets officially said hello to Luisangel and officially said goodbye to Max.

Naturally, Ronald Acuña Jr. has nothing but high hopes and good things to say about his brother.

The Mets are said to be interested in the services of Minnesota Twins outfielder Trevor Larnach.

Down on the farm, Jett Williams and Jacob Reimer were promoted to High-A in Brooklyn.

Around the National League East

Only days after picking him up for nothing, the Braves traded Taylor Hearn to the Royals for infielder Nicky Lopez.

On his birthday, Pittsburgh Pirate Josh Palacios connected for a walkoff two-run homer to hand the Phillies a 6-4 loss in 10 innings.

Matt Olson homered twice and took sole possession of the major league RBI lead in the Braves’ 8-6 win over the Brewers.

Miguel Cabrera said goodbye to Florida for the last time and David Robertson said hello with his first save in the Marlins’ 8-6 win over Detroit.

Mike Rizzo says eight teams are interested in the services of third baseman Jeimer Candelario and before 6:00 tomorrow, he’ll be the newest member of one of them.

Around Major League Baseball

Saturday’s slate of games was the highest attended Saturday in Major League Baseball since Marlon Byrd was still starting games for the Mets.

In what will probably go down as the biggest reliever deal of the deadline season, the Cardinals traded Jordan Hicks to Toronto.

Bringing home two players they drafted over a decade ago, the Angels acquired C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk from the Rockies for a pair of minor league pitchers.

The Red Sox are said to be open to offers on outfielder Alex Verdugo.

With their longest winning streak since 2016 keeping them in National League Central contention, the Cubs are not open for business and will be keeping Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman.

Hamstring tightness pulled J.D. Martinez from Sunday’s Dodgers game and probably put Los Angeles deeper into the market for a bat.

News in Texas didn’t stay positive for long as Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the 10-day IL with a forearm strain.

Shortly after that news dropped, the mood shifted again as the Rangers traded for Cardinals top starter Jordan Montgomery to fill the suddenly open spot in their rotation.

This Date in Mets History

Please wish Mets Icons Nick Plummer and Rene Rivera a happy birthday.

Yesterday at Amazin Avenue

Christian Romo looked at the 2023 Mets rotation in the Post Max Scherzer Era.

With the trading deadline on Tuesday and two deals already completed, Chris McShane created a list of who might be leaving Flushing next.