The New York Mets came to the new MLB season with the highest payroll at $345 million.
However, this investment did not yield results, and now, they are trading away players with significant contracts, basically surrendering their season with many games to go.
General Manager Billy Eppler said the team is moving on now after a disastrous 2023.
"Clearly, the season didn't work out as planned. There was high expectations. Looked good on paper. But it didn't translate to consistent wins," Eppler told reporters.
"I don't think anybody really forecasted that this is where we would be at the deadline.
Read more: Astros Pulls Trigger on Trade With Mets To Reunite With Justin Verlander
"But we weren't banking enough wins and we had to accept the reality of that and kind of make the best of the circumstances. So that's what we've executed over the last number of days."
Instead, the club decided to become a seller, trading away stars Justin Verlander to his former team Houston Astros and Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers. The move lowered their expenses by $45 million.
Looking forward to the new season already
Scherzer tries to find an answer to why he was traded, and the answer circles around the idea that he was no longer part of the Mets' plans.
"(Eppler's) answer was that the team is now kind of shifting vision and that they're looking to compete now for 2025 and 2026, and that 2024, that it was not going to be a reload situation in New York, and that it was going to be more of a transition in 2024," Scherzer said during the player introduction by the Rangers.
Related article: Mets' GM Clarifies They Are Not Rebuilding After Trade of Veteran Players
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