Rangers Reportedly Load Up By Acquiring Three-Time Cy Young Winner

The Texas Rangers lost a multi-time Cy Young Award winner in Jacob deGrom early this season due to injury.

So, the Rangers decided to finally replace deGrom with another multi-time Cy Young Award winner, who coincidentally enough, also pitched for the New York Mets.

Texas acquired star pitcher Max Scherzer from the Mets in exchange for highly touted prospect Luisangel Acuna, per multiple reports. Acuna is ranked as the Rangers’ third-best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

The Rangers also got the Mets to pay a massive portion of Scherzer’s salary in the deal. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Mets will pay roughly $35 million of Scherzer’s salary, which is at $43.3 million annually as he is the highest-paid player in baseball this season.

The deal was hung up initially since Scherzer has a no-trade clause in his contract. But just when it seemed like the deal would fall apart, the right-hander waived it.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner is not at the height of his powers anymore, but is still one of the better pitchers MLB has to offer. He posted a 9-4 record with a 4.01 ERA this season with the Mets while striking out 121 batters in 107 2/3 innings.

The Rangers are in first place in the American League West and bolster a starting rotation that was headlined by former Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, who is in the Cy Young conversation this year.

Texas will be the sixth team Scherzer has played for in his career, and it’s the first time he’s back in the AL since pitching for the Detroit Tigers in 2014.