The photos were taken by Daniel Shirey.
According to reports, the New York Mets are interested in signing two of the top pitchers available in free agency in Max and Kevin Gausman.
The belief is that Gausman could sign with a team on Saturday or Sunday.
The Mets have spoken with Scott Boras, the agent for the pitcher, but are not overly optimistic about being able to sign him.
If the Mets sign Gausman, they will mostly be relying on his one good season not being an outlier.
Gausman went 14-6) with a 2.81 earned run average, 1.04 WHIP, and 227 strikeouts in 192 appearances for the San Francisco Giants last season. He had career highs in wins, strikeouts, and strikeouts.
Gausman was named an All-Star for the first time, and he finished sixth in the NL Cy Young Award voting.
Gausman went 3-3 with a 3.62 earned run average, 1.10 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in 59.2innings in the 2020 season, which was his best season in his career, and it was good for a career-best strikeout rate.
Gausman had a good first seven MLB seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, but he only won seven times with a 4.30 average, 1.34 WHIP and 8.3 strikeout rate.
If Gausman can maintain his recent level of performance, he would be a good signing for New York, as he would help the Mets make the playoffs and the World Series.
At 37 years of age, Max Scherzer is still a top-flight pitcher, but he doesn't have a ton of time left in his career.
In 30 starts between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals last season, Max Scherzer went 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA, NL-best 0.86 WHIP and 236 strikeouts.
For the eighth time in his likely Hall of Fame career, Max Scherzer was named an All-Star, and he finished third in the Cy Young voting, marking his sixth career finish of third or better.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner has 190 career wins, a career earned run average of 3.16 and strikeouts per nine-innings, although that number has been at or around 12 for the past five seasons.
The Mets haven't won a World Series since 1986 and the fact that he helped lead the Nationals to a title would appeal to them.
The New York Yankees have been active in free agency this year with the reported signings of outfielders Starling Marte and Mark Canha, as well as infielder Eduardo Escobar.
The Mets need to add at least one starter with Marcus Stroman being a free agent and Noah Syndergaard having already signed with the Los Angeles Angels.
Steve Cohen has made it clear that he is willing to spend big in order to mold the team into a contender, and landing a starter the caliber of Gausman or Scherzer would be another step in the right direction.
