I was so stoked when Verlander came aboard for 2023. The guy is one of the best pitchers of all-time and is in competition with Kershaw for the greatest active pitcher.

I mean, this is a guy who won 24 games in a season—and a Most Valuable Player award, as a hurler. I remember that year, that's the year he ascended into true greatness. In this age of pitchers tossing fewer and fewer innings, he still managed a 300 K season. He's on another plane.

So, of course, I was disappointed but not surprised when he missed the first part of the season. Obviously he would, this is the Mets.

And I was disappointed but not surprised when he was disturbingly inconsistent through May and June. But of course he would be, this is the Mets.

But the Verlander of July was the Verlander I was thrilled we signed. Wow. Watching him pitch truly was watching a master at work. He had a 1.69 ERA in six July starts. Yeah, that's the guy I wanted to see.

The trade of Verlander truly signals the end of the 2023 Mets' hopes for success. I was really wishing the team would keep him around, just so we'd have SOMEBODY truly great to anchor our pitching staff, but nope. Guess not.

The 2023 Mets could have been so good. Legendary, even. You had superstars in Verlander, Scherzer, Lindor and Alonso. You had stars in Marte, McNeil, Nimmo, Diaz and Robertson. You had future stars in Alvarez, Baty, Vientos and Senga. You had reliable contributors in Ottavino, Raley, Canha and Smith.

And now we have a team that's been dismantled, bit by bit, for the future. Again, it's always about the future.

One that almost never seems to actually arrive.