ABOUT 100 HOURS before Major League Baseball's trade deadline, the New York Mets and Texas Rangers were barreling toward an agreement on a deal that would shake the baseball world. The Mets were prepared to dismantle the most expensive team in the game's history. New York's focus was now on 2025 and beyond -- and that target date was past the expiration of starting pitcher Max Scherzer's contract.
The Rangers had eyed a moment like this since June, when it was clear their red-hot start and place atop the American League West division was no small-sample mirage. Even after losing their star free agent signing, Jacob deGrom, to Tommy John surgery in early June, they had the highest-scoring offense in the game, financial support from ownership, a deep farm system and a trump card of urgency: 51 years of existence, zero championships.
The Rangers had recognized starting pitching represented a potential weakness and resolved to address it at the deadline. Texas didn't want just any starter, though. The Rangers sought impact arms, ones who could start what they hoped would be their first postseason games since 2016.
For Scherzer to be available was unthinkable at the beginning of the season, and here he was, ready to be had, the confluence of months of planning and weeks of intense scrutiny and days of discussion that helped unleash a deluge of trades consequential to the remainder of the 2023 season.
When the Los Angeles Angels pulled Shohei Ohtani off the trade market on July 26, the prospect of a deadline season chock full of excitement dimmed considerably. Only the failure of the Mets would salvage it, and Scherzer represented the dam breaking. His deal to the Rangers began a mad rush to the deadline and more than three dozen trades across the sport, including another high-profile Met, his rotation mate Justin Verlander, and Jordan Montgomery, the towering left-hander who represented as much as Scherzer the Rangers' willingness to treat 2023 with such gravity.
Everything had lined up right. Last year's free agent signings, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, were in their primes, others on the team in the midst of career years. Three-time World Series-winning manager Bruce Bochy had come out of retirement to shepherd the Rangers. But a few days ahead of the 2023 deadline, as bright as their future suddenly looked, they couldn't gaze into the distance. Right in front of them was a window, wide open.
"If we're not going for it now," Rangers general manager Chris Young said, "when would we?"
A FEW WEEKS before the Aug. 1 deadline, executives who checked in with Mets general manager Billy Eppler to gauge New York's potential deadline activity left the conversations intrigued. The Mets lagged in fourth place in the National League East, and Eppler didn't discount the possibility of punting on the season, even after the team had committed to more than $450 million in salaries and luxury-tax payments. It all depended, he said, on how the Mets played leading up to the deadline. And for curiosity's sake, he wondered, if they did unload players, might there be any interest in Scherzer or Verlander, his co-aces with matching $43.3 million annual salaries?
For the Rangers, the answer was yes, even with the complications of Scherzer's full no-trade clause and a player option for the 2024 season. The Rangers' aggressiveness, illustrated in market-rocking free agent deals with Seager, Semien and deGrom over the previous two offseasons, is a feature, not a bug. When they like, they pounce.
And they really liked Scherzer. Future Hall of Famer, three-time Cy Young Award winner, owner of more strikeouts than anyone since his 2008 debut, Scherzer, now 39, remains a formidable force, throwing as hard as he did a decade ago.
There was a catch, though. The Rangers would need money coming back, lots of money, a refrain that would prove common with other teams that understood the Mets' calculus: Owner Steve Cohen, the richest man in baseball, could easily subsidize the salaries if teams were willing to send better prospects in return.
For now, they all had to wait and see. To start July, the Mets won six straight. They followed with four consecutive losses, won three more in a row, lost, won, lost twice, and at that point it was becoming clear. While they looked better, it wasn't enough to validate adding players, and there's no worse place in baseball to finish than the middle. That led executives to believe about 10 days before the deadline that Scherzer and Verlander may well be available.
Conversations with Mets officials validated that. They were listening to possibilities before; now, they were hearing options. When Eppler started asking about particular prospects, naming names, Young and other executives saw a path to a deal. Six days before the deadline, it became clear that the prospect of Scherzer moving was real -- maybe clearest of all to Scherzer.
On July 27, he started receiving text messages from players on other teams, including Texas, each a different spin of the same sentiment: We want to trade for you, and you should waive your no-trade clause and come here. Scherzer couldn't help but be caught off-guard by the entreaties. He liked playing for the Mets. He signed with the team in 2022 to signal a new era under Cohen. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to win in New York.
Later that day, when the Mets traded reliever David Robertson to the Miami Marlins, Scherzer sought a meeting with Cohen for clarity about the team's plans going forward. On July 28, Cohen informed him the team was not planning a free agent spending spree this winter -- certainly, nothing like the $498.1 million they guaranteed in the 2022-23 offseason -- and was targeting 2025 as the beginning of its next window. At that point, Scherzer decided he would not stand in the way of a deal that landed him in a desirable spot.
Meanwhile, the starting-pitching market was thinning out quickly. After deciding not to trade Ohtani, the Angels had acquired right-hander Lucas Giolito from the Chicago White Sox, who also moved right-hander Lance Lynn to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Chicago Cubs, who were just two games ahead of the Mets at the start of July, surged into contention and decided not to trade right-hander Marcus Stroman. The Boston Red Sox were noncommittal on dealing left-hander James Paxton. The Detroit Tigers' price on left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez was too rich. Texas was ready to pounce, and the Rangers preferred Scherzer to Verlander, whose contract included a player option for 2025, his age-42 season.
For a starter of Scherzer's caliber, they were willing to deal Luisangel Acuña, a 21-year-old middle infielder at Double-A and brother of Mets tormenter and NL MVP favorite Ronald Acuña Jr. They haggled over how much money would accompany Scherzer in a potential deal, and the landing spot was a staggering number: The Mets would pay $35.51 million of the $58.01 million owed to Scherzer through 2024. The Rangers would cover $10 million for the final two months this season and just $12.5 million for all of next year -- the typical cost of a season for a decent reliever, not Max Scherzer.
The two teams agreed to the framework of the deal late night July 28, about 24 hours after Robertson was traded. It was still contingent on two things: Scherzer waiving his no-trade clause and opting into his player option for 2024, which Texas considered a must to give up Acuña.
"I understood why he may not want to do either," Young said.
Midseason trades can be difficult on players, and in the Mets, Scherzer had found as close to an ideal situation as possible. Their spring training facility was less than 40 minutes from his home in Jupiter, Florida, which allowed him to see his four children daily. Mets fans had delighted in his signing and fell head over heels for the 101-win team in 2022. But the prospect of playing out this disenchanting season and weathering another without World Series aspirations lacked appeal to Scherzer.
Players often use no-trade protection as leverage to sweeten their deals, but Scherzer never asked for additional financial compensation. He spent the day talking it through with his wife, Erica, and his agent, Scott Boras, taking his time to make sure he was ready to end his tenure in New York. When Young spoke with Boras, they agreed on minor amenities Texas hoped would close the deal.
Finally, around 8:30 p.m. ET on July 29, Scherzer said yes, heeding the words of Erica, who had said: "We've got to go where we can win."
"Chris Young as the GM, Bochy as manager, Mike Maddux as pitching coach -- guys with a lot of success across multiple organizations," Scherzer said. "And the team's just playing well. They presented an opportunity to join their team and be in the chase and be able to win the World Series."
Word filtered out quickly, except to the two people who had negotiated the terms of the trade. Fifteen minutes after it was reported that the deal was done, Young still hadn't been told. He called Eppler.
"You heard anything?" Young asked.
"No," Eppler said.
Soon thereafter, official word arrived. The trade that seemed impossible at the beginning of April and improbable at the beginning of June and unlikely at the beginning of July was happening on the cusp of August.
And for the Rangers, it was just the beginning.
WHEN THE St. Louis Cardinals left for their first road trip of the second half on July 20, Jordan Montgomery came prepared. Of all the pitchers predicted to get moved at the deadline, the 30-year-old was perhaps the surest to go. The Cardinals were terrible. The 6-foot-6 Montgomery, a free agent this winter, checked almost every box: reliable, eats innings, limits walks and home runs, strikes guys out, has postseason experience. So for the trip to Chicago and Arizona, he packed two suitcases: one with clothes for seven days, another in case of a trade.
"I wasn't going to get caught off-guard again this year," Montgomery said.
On deadline day in 2022, Montgomery was grabbing a bite with New York Yankees teammates Clay Holmes and Ron Marinaccio when the team's manager, Aaron Boone, peeked his head around the corner and summoned Montgomery. His name hadn't been in trade rumors. His fiancée, McKenzie Dirr, about to enter her final year of medical school, was two days into a six-week rotation at Mount Sinai Hospital. But this was baseball. Life can change with one phone call, and in this case, Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Cardinals president John Mozeliak agreed on a one-for-one swap: Montgomery for center fielder Harrison Bader.
After the shock of last year, Montgomery properly tuned his trade antennae this time around. When the Rangers kicked off trade season by acquiring left-handed reliever Aroldis Chapman from Kansas City on June 25, Montgomery readied himself to move. McKenzie, now his wife, had graduated and started a one-year dermatology internship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, so he perked up when one rumor linked him to the Red Sox.
The deluge of options, though, "was kind of too much," Montgomery said. One day it was the Dodgers and another Arizona. Baltimore wanted him. So did Arizona. And Tampa Bay. San Francisco and Cincinnati, too. Maybe even Toronto and Miami. As the speculation around Montgomery multiplied, the Cardinals held firm, waiting out the pitcher's market, aware of the limited options and surplus of teams hankering for a starter.
In the meantime, Texas lurked. Young and Mozeliak had been talking for a few days, even as the Rangers were closing the Scherzer trade. Texas understood the fragility of the deal, and had Cohen not been honest with Scherzer about the Mets' objective, it very easily could have fallen apart. But Montgomery was no backup plan. The Rangers wanted him either way. And even after graduating a Rookie of the Year candidate in Josh Jung and sending Acuña to the Mets, the Texas farm system (ranked No. 10 overall by Kiley McDaniel this spring) had enough to splurge on a rental player.
The Cardinals had told teams they would wait until the deadline approached to start dealing players, and they held firm until July 30, the day after the Scherzer deal. St. Louis had considered dozens of trade iterations: packaging Montgomery or right-hander Jack Flaherty with closer Jordan Hicks, adding shortstop Paul DeJong to the mix, tossing in right-handed reliever Chris Stratton, moving a surplus outfielder. Now was the time to pare the inventory.
With the ask for Montgomery and Hicks too rich, the Rangers focused on Montgomery and Stratton. The Cardinals had targeted two players from Texas' system: Thomas Saggese and Tekoah Roby, both selected in the Rangers' 2020 draft class.
Decried by analysts and described on air as "puzzling" at the time, the class included Evan Carter, now a consensus top-10 prospect; Justin Foscue, who has an .828 OPS with more walks than strikeouts at Triple-A; Roby, a high-ceiling right-hander; and Saggese, who is destroying Double-A with an OPS near .900. In actuality, the maligned draft from then-president of baseball operations Jon Daniels and scouting director Kip Fagg helped lay the groundwork for another 2023 deadline splash.
"Kip and our whole scouting department deserve credit for that," Young said. "When I came in, I didn't know the criticism he and JD and the front office had taken [for 2020]. It could turn out to be one of the best drafts the Rangers have ever had."
Along with Roby and Saggese, the Rangers agreed to send left-hander John King, an up-and-down reliever, to St. Louis. Just before 3 p.m. CT, Cardinals clubhouse attendant Mark Walsh summoned Montgomery to meet with Mozeliak.
Montgomery was going to Texas, along with his good friend Stratton. They would join Seager and Semien, both All-Stars along with Jung, catcher Jonah Heim and slugger Adolis Garcia. He'd get to play with slugging first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and breakout utilityman Ezequiel Duran and join a staff filled with effective starters (Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney) and one more for good measure: Max Scherzer.
"They've got superstar power," Montgomery said. "Good players up and down the lineup. It's fun to watch them work at-bats. Jung is a super-good player at third. Seager and Semien up the middle is special. Then you've got Adolis in right field. Rakes. Lowe hit two lefty-on-lefty doubles [Saturday]. And then three great catchers [Heim, Mitch Garver and Austin Hedges]. I can't talk about all of 'em enough."
Young was the first to call to welcome him. Bochy rang when Montgomery was at the airport -- with just one suitcase this time. Maddux, who had been his pitching coach for the final two months last year with the Cardinals, texted him. They were all ready to win a World Series. And they were all hopeful he and Scherzer would help them do it.
WHILE OFF THE field the Rangers' front office was turning the trade deadline on its head, something funny happened on the field: The team played some of its worst baseball of the season. In the end, both things might end up helping Texas.
The afternoon of the Montgomery deal, the San Diego Padres finished a three-game sweep of the Rangers. The mini-run convinced the disappointing Padres not to trade starter Blake Snell or closer Josh Hader, both of whom had been dangled in talks with other teams, depriving an already-starved market of two high-end pitching targets. The Houston Astros, cognizant that a 6½-game deficit to the Rangers had shrunk to one, were even more emboldened to go out and match Texas' moves by dealing a pair of top prospects from an already-thin farm system, outfielders Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford, for the best player remaining: Verlander.
The Rangers weren't bothered. Even though Eovaldi, their best pitcher this season, had hit the injured list with a forearm strain over the weekend, the arrivals of Scherzer and Montgomery would freshen up a team that had played .500 baseball for the previous two months. Young heard the excitement in Scherzer's voice when they talked on the day of the deal and knew his legendary intensity would fit perfectly in a Texas clubhouse whose no-nonsense approach belies its relative youth.
"I feel so old," said Scherzer, the eldest Ranger by 3½ years. "I was comfortable in New York. We had some old guys there. Not here."
In his Rangers debut Thursday, Scherzer looked wizened in the first two innings, issuing a bases-loaded walk and allowing three runs on six hits. Then, for the next four innings, he looked like Max Scherzer, punching out six and facing one batter over the minimum. Montgomery was even better a day later, yielding a run in each of the first two innings and then, like Scherzer, finishing with four scoreless, leaning on a new cutter Hedges encouraged him to throw more after seeing it in a bullpen session and calling it "nasty."
While Texas has won eight straight games since the deadline passed and stretched its division lead to three games, Young isn't ready to celebrate. He knows this isn't easy. The Rangers' history tells him so, as does his own career: Young pitched for 10 big league seasons before winning a World Series with Kansas City in 2015.
Still, he can take time to appreciate the manic 48 hours from the intensification of the Scherzer talks to the culmination of the Montgomery deal. Every deadline is its own unique beast, and this one -- with 38 deals after the Scherzer trade opened the floodgates -- will be remembered as the Rangers'.
Particularly if October is as memorable as they intend it to be.
"This team," Young said, "deserves every opportunity to try to win this year. Our fans deserve it. And there's a price associated with that.
"We were willing to pay it."