On the Mets' future -- Billy Eppler, Max Scherzer, Steve Cohen and more

In the fall of 2021, the entire baseball world seemed to be trying to arrange a marriage between new Mets owner Steve Cohen and future Hall of Fame executive Theo Epstein. One day in October, the two met, didn’t hit it off, and moved on.

The same sense of external inevitability has now affixed itself to Cohen and David Stearns, the former president of baseball operations for the team currently in town playing the Mets, the Milwaukee Brewers. The two will probably meet for the first time in August or September, and then decide if they want another conversation.

People who have known and worked with Cohen for years say that he places a high value on personal chemistry. For this reason, current general manager Billy Eppler will be a significant part of the future leadership group, whenever Cohen hires the president of baseball operations he has sought since buying the team in 2020.

Cohen and Eppler talk nearly every day, and Cohen is impressed by Eppler’s ability to provide answers to his tough questions, and excited about the infrastructure that Eppler is creating, like the new pitching lab in Port St. Lucie.

Eppler has long since been told that he will be involved in that POBO hiring process, and that a willingness to work with him will be a prerequisite for any candidate. If it seems odd for Eppler to help select the person who will technically be his boss, it’s useful to remember that the GM’s longtime Yankee colleagues insist that he is a team player, and won’t have his ego dented by a new executive hire.

So if Stearns comes to the Mets, a notion that is both plausible and a bit premature, it will be to collaborate with Eppler. And if it’s not Stearns, here’s hoping for the Mets’ sake that Cohen and Eppler hire the veteran baseball person -- the Brian Sabean-type, if you will -- that they sorely lack.

Cohen is also looking for an overall team president/CEO to replace Sandy Alderson, who transitioned to a consulting role early this year. That search has been ongoing for nearly a year, and Cohen has not yet identified a fit. For this and the POBO job, he will wait as long as it takes.

While Cohen made clear in his media availability on Wednesday that he finds the team’s performance this season “incredibly frustrating,” he more than trusts Eppler to execute what could be a significant trade deadline for the future of the franchise.

If the Mets fail to gain ground in the Wild Card standings in the coming weeks, they could talk to other teams about plenty of players, from Max Scherzer to Justin Verlander to Starling Marte to Tommy Pham to Omar Narvaez to David Robertson to Adam Ottavino to Mark Canha.

A deeper sell-off would involve Pete Alonso, who is under team control through next season and would present the best opportunity to stock the farm system.

Trading free agents-to-be like Robertson, Pham and Canha wouldn’t compromise next season, but moving Scherzer, Verlander, Ottavino, or anyone else under a multi-year contract would necessitate a plan to replace those veterans in 2024, which Cohen will enter with a renewed set of championship expectations.

At the beginning of the season, it was hard to imagine that we would be talking about Mets stars in this context, but Cohen is a realist. As he said on Wednesday, “If I'm in this position [in the standings], I'm not adding. I think that would be pretty silly. I'd probably do very little."

If he is in a worse position -- if the Mets continue to lose on most nights -- Cohen and Eppler are rational enough to at least gauge the potential returns for everyone.

The downside of trading Alonso -- which, to be clear, is an extreme longshot -- is obvious: The loss of star power, not to mention all-world home run power, and the hit to fan morale.

A declining Verlander would perhaps be the least painful veteran to move, provided there is meaningful interest. He has hardly had time to establish himself as a presence around here yet.

Scherzer, even with performance off his Cy Young peak, would be the biggest loss from a culture standpoint. Upon arriving last year, the future Hall of Famer brought professionalism and accountability that the Mets lacked for years.

Francisco Lindor has also matured to become a true leader, and might one day become captain. There are few players in the league, though, who can offer Scherzer’s combination of intensity, experience, performance and knowledge.

There are two other potential roadblocks to a Scherzer trade: He has a player opt-in for $43.3 million next season and a full no-trade clause (Verlander is making the same salary next year and also has a full no-trade).

On Wednesday afternoon, before Cohen’s availability, I asked Scherzer directly if he would waive that no-trade clause.

“It’s pointless to even talk about it,” Scherzer said. “Go ask Steve. If Steve says it’s so, then let’s talk about it. Until then, it’s pointless to even talk about or think about.”

Was that a quote, I asked Scherzer? He shrugged and nodded.

Soon after, asked about trading Scherzer and Verlander, Cohen said he didn’t want to “even broach that topic.”

If the season stays ugly, though? He’ll broach it. That doesn’t mean he’ll do it, but he’ll consider the possibility.

Cohen is not one to lose his temper at work, but he’s not one to throw good money after bad, either. If the Mets continue to lose, he will calmly consider all options for the roster.

What he won’t consider is parting with Eppler, whom he considers himself lucky to have.