Max Scherzer and the incredible story of the 2022 Mets

With Max Scherzer pitching six perfect innings in his return from the IL to help the Mets clinch a playoff berth, my mind drifted back to the bad old days, when the Wilpons were running the team after the Bernie Madoff crisis hit. By 2019, the Mets had long since passed the worst of the Madoff fallout but they were not among the leaders in payroll, either. This quote from Jeff Wilpon came in January of 2019:

Asked why he did not spend more this offseason, Wilpon said: “I don’t know how many teams have two $30 million players, so that’s a bit of the answer.”

Of course, the two Mets nearest this threshold were Yoenis Cespedes ($29 million) and Robinson Cano ($24 million but $5 million that year paid by the Mariners.) So, the Mets didn’t technically have one and they weren’t particularly close to another. Yet this was the reason the younger Wilpon gave as to why they didn’t shop for high-end free agents.

Of course, the Nationals won the pennant in 2019 with Stephen Strasburg making $38.3 million and Scherzer pulling down $37.4 million, immediately making Wilpon look foolish – not that it was a particularly difficult thing for anyone or any group to do.

Flash forward to 2022 and the Mets have two players making over $30 million – Scherzer ($43.3) and Francisco Lindor ($32.5) and two more players making more than Cano in 2019 – Jacob deGrom at $27.3 million and Cano himself, with the Mets responsible for $21.25 million. The Mets’ outlay to Cano this year will be slightly less than that, as the Padres and Braves will pick up some of the freight after foolishly picking him up after the Mets cut him.

A high payroll isn’t a guarantee of making the playoffs but it sure makes it easier if you spend wisely and your high-dollar guys stay healthy.

And it’s really remarkable how well the Mets have done with how often three of their four-highest-paid players were unavailable. Sure, no one expected much from Cano but the idea that deGrom could miss slightly over half the season and Scherzer would have two separate IL stints, with one of those lasting seven weeks, and the Mets would have 94 wins with 13 games still to play is pretty much hard to believe.

When the deGrom news hit in Spring Training, many thought 90 wins was off the table. And that was way before the loss of Scherzer happened. If the pessimists knew how much time Scherzer was going to miss before the season started, you wonder if they would have even predicted a .500 record.

Another remarkable thing is that despite all of the time missed, along with two more regular season starts to come, FanGraphs has Scherzer “earning” $35.8 million this year. Strictly from on-filed production, Scherzer is fairly close to his actual salary despite all of the weeks on the IL.

But, it’s not unreasonable to believe that Scherzer has had an impact on the club beyond what he does on the mound. You hear all of the time about leadership and intangibles. But it’s amazing how those things show up after the winning has happened. My feelings on that are akin to Henry David Thoreau’s on virtue. Thoreau said: “There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man.”

At this point, my view is that Scherzer is the exception, the one compared to the 999. People will trip all over themselves to designate someone having leadership and/or intangibles that they bring to the club. Shoot, you don’t have to look too far to find it tossed out there for Cano when the Mets first got him. Here’s how Newsweek’s David Lennon put it in February of 2019:

Also, as his former agent, you’d have to think Van Wagenen has a decent read on Cano’s mindset coming over, as well as the extent of the PED situation the player went through last season. He also shared Mickey Callaway‘s belief that the Mets needed someone like Cano to fill an apparent leadership void.

“We really did,” Callaway said. “David Wright, the captain, is gone now. To bring in a guy like Cano, a Hall of Fame-type player, that does everything the right way, thinks about baseball in a winning sense. We talked to Robby about baseball and he talked about winning. That’s all he cares about. He’s going to be able to deliver that message to all our young guys.”

Scherzer said all of the right things when he signed, how deGrom was the ace and he was here to help him out. And then he went out and did what he’s always done – demand excellence from himself and ask his teammates to critique him.

It’s a reasonable question to ask who has brought more intangibles and leadership to the club – Scherzer or Buck Showalter. The Mets are three games ahead of their Pythagorean record, so there’s extra credit to be given out. Edwin Diaz and his outstanding work in the ninth inning probably deserves some of that, too.

It’s been an amazingly fun year for the Mets and their fans. And the incredible play of the Braves has only added to the enjoyment – something that was missing from the Mets’ 1986 juggernaut. If the Mets win the division, the fact that they outlasted the division bully playing at the top of their game will only add to the legacy.

Here’s to Scherzer giving us even more reasons for goose bumps the remainder of the year.