Reese Kaplan -- A History of Mets Roster Tear Downs

During the 2025 season the Mets faced innumerable problems with pitching, hitting, fielding and theoretically coaching.  Unlike many rose-colored glass wearing Mets fans, I have been objective about the limited pros and many cons of how this the front office managed these issues.  We don’t need to reiterate the litany of Mets woes citing every injury, poor performer and lack of roster changes that ended in the positive.  It was a season where they dominated the first two months and then were lucking to finish above .500 from that point forward, ending a game out of the postseason.

Obviously there are going to be a major collection of new faces both on the playing field and in the coaching ranks after the embarrassment of the season that just ended.  No one in their right mind could conclude that things should have remained static after the results occurred to the disappointment of pretty much anyone. 

As a history reminder, in the Cohen era of Mets ownership this tear down is not the first they have executed.  Back in 2023 the Mets had fallen off the cliff performance-wise and then GM Billy Eppler engineered a wholesale dismantling of the team that finished the year 75-87.  In history, this year’s 83-79 record was better but in both cases neither team finished as expected.

Everyone remembers the two-headed pitching trades to the Astros and Rangers that headlined how Cohen and Eppler felt about changing course for the team’s future.  By paying down contract obligations the Mets engineered a pair of trades for prospects that were theoretically become a part of the team’s future. 

First came the Justin Verlander trade to the Houston Astros.  Verlander is a borderline Hall of Fame level pitcher who has been in MLB since debuting with the Tigers back in 2005.  He has a career record of 266-158 along with a 3.32 ERA.  He has had top of the rotation stuff and earned three Cy Young Awards.

Leaving off the financial side of things for the moment, instead just concentrate on the players received in return for the big right hander.  The Astros offered up Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford.  They looked like prime prospects but hardly an equitable return for someone who could wind up in Cooperstown.

Then there is the other star, Max Scherzer, who wound up packing his bags for the suburbs of Dallas.  During his career he has won 221 games while sporting a 3.22 ERA.  In a long career that began in Arizona in 2008 he’d also gone onto earn a trio of Cy Young Awards. 

In exchange for Scherzer in terms of player personnel the Mets obtained the younger brother of the Atlanta Braves superstar Ronald Acuna.  Luisangel Acuna did not have Ronald’s home run power, but he had the hit ability, defensive chops and base running ability that suggested his success in the major leagues was all but guaranteed. 

Since Verlander left he’s not been quite the same pitcher.  He’s pitched to a 3.96 ERA and perhaps it is somewhat expected age related decline taking its toll on his output.  Minus his 16 games as a Met he’s pitched in 57 games during which he pitched far worse than his 3.15 ERA as a Met.

Scherzer has done worse, with an ERA over these three seasons of 4.23 over 53 games.  If you take out the 27 games at 3.77 he did for the Mets in 2023, then he drops to a two and a half year total of just 26 games. 

At first glance you might think that the production level their new teams received made these deals a positive for the Mets.  After all, they received a total of four high level prospects in return.  Unfortunately, thus far it has not proven to be the case.

We all well know the job Luisangel Acuna has done in his limited time with the Mets.  For his MLB career Acuna has been in 109 games with 214 ABs during which he’s hit just .248 with 3 HRs and 14 RBIs while stealing 16 bases.  Those results are hardly eye popping.

Then comes outfielder Drew Gilbert who was traded away by David Stearns as part of this past July’s desperation moves.  As a member of the San Francisco Giants Gilbert has hit just .190 with 3 HRs and 13 RBIs over 100 big league at-bats.

The jury is still out on Ryan Clifford whose run production in 2025 split between Binghamton and Syracuse included 29 HRs and 93 RBIs.  Woo hoo!  Look a little closer, however, and you see that he did not fare as well with a .237 batting average while striking out 148 times.  He’s an incomplete thus far as he has not yet broken into the majors. 

Of course, Eppler wasn’t done with the dismantling of the 2023 Mets.  He sent reliever David Robertson to the Marlins for prospects Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez who thus far have ascended only to A ball.  He also sent packing outfielders Mark Canha (for now Dodger minor leaguer Justin Jarvis) and Tommy Pham (for St. Lucie shorstop Jeremy Rodriguez).  Only Robertson has shown good stuff in the seasons that followed. 

So when you say the Mets gave it all up in 2023, you might or might not be right as the players who left did not amount to as much as was feared.  Still, the ones the Mets received haven’t exactly lit fireworks either.  Of the incoming group it would appear the last bastion for stardom could be Clifford. In two to three years you may find a similar story looking at how the prospects given up in Stearns’ July Jamboree fared with their new teams.