Marcus Stroman Bolts For Cubs, Rich Hill Signs With Red Sox
After the Mets signed ace pitcher Max Scherzer to a historic three-year, $130 million deal on Monday, this all but signaled the end of Marcus Stroman's time in Queens.
In fact, Stroman sent a number of interesting tweets out over the weekend, claiming the Mets were no longer interested in bringing him back due to their preference towards other hurlers such as Kevin Gausman and Robbie Ray.
But in the end, the Mets landed on the biggest name of them all in Scherzer, the 37-year-old three-time Cy Young Award winner.
With just hours to go before the collective bargaining agreement expired, Stroman struck a deal with the Chicago Cubs for three-years, $71 million which includes an opt-out after the second season.
The 30-year-old will make $25 million in each of the next two seasons and $21 million in 2024. His deal also includes $2 million escalators in 2022 and 2023 if he reaches 160 innings.
Stroman was the first to announce that he was going to the Cubs via Twitter. And ESPN's Jeff Passan reported on the contract figures and details.
The Mets acquired Stroman from the Toronto Blue Jays at the 2019 trade deadline in exchange for pitching prospects Simeon Woods-Richardson and Anthony Kay.
And ex-general manager Brodie Van Wagenen made it clear that Stroman was the replacement for then pending free agent pitcher Zack Wheeler.
From there, Stroman opted out of the 2020 Covid-shortened season, and pitched one more full campaign with the Mets last year.
In his final season with the Mets, Stroman led the league with 33 starts and posted a 3.02 ERA across 179 innings.
Now, he heads to a Cubs team that just sold their entire core at the deadline, and is set to embark on a rebuild.
Mountain On The Move
Rich Hill, whose nickname around baseball is "dick mountain," will not be returning to the Mets for his age-42 season.
Instead, Hill is heading back to his hometown Boston Red Sox, where he has spent two previous stints in his career [2010-2012, 2015]. A source confirmed this deal to Inside the Mets.
Alex Speier of The Boston Globe was the first to report on the agreement of a one-year deal. The Athletic reported the contract is worth $5 million and includes $250K in incentives per 110, 120 innings, $500K each for 130, 140 innings and $750K each for 150, 160 innings.
The Mets acquired the left-hander from the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2021 trade deadline. In 13 appearances [12 starts], Hill went 1-4 with a 3.84 ERA as a Met.
And although Hill would have been a solid depth piece on the Mets' pitching staff, he is shipping up to Boston for his third go around.
