Article: Blue Jays Sign Max Scherzer

[Davy Andrews]

The 40-year-old ace is bringing his Hall of Fame talents and lengthy injury history to Toronto.

Just one day after reports that Max Scherzer invited MLB teams to a workout to demonstrate that he still has what it takes to be an impact starter, his plan seems to have worked. On Thursday afternoon, Jon Heyman reported that Scherzer is signing with the Blue Jays on a one-year, $15.5-million deal. The 40-year-old Scherzer is a Hall of Fame lock: A three-time Cy Young Award winner, eight-time All-Star, and two-time World Series champion who has led his league in wins four times and complete games three times. He is also one of the game's fiercest competitors. However, Scherzer hasn't reached the 30-start threshold once in the last six seasons, and he threw just 43 innings in 2024. The Blue Jays are gambling that the Cooperstown-bound Scherzer has one more solid season in the tank.

Scherzer started the 2024 season on the IL as he recovered from surgery to repair a herniated disc. After he returned, he battled a nerve issue in his hand, a hamstring strain, and shoulder fatigue. He debuted in June and made just eight starts before the shoulder issue shut him down. He returned for a ninth start in September, only for the hamstring strain to end his season. When he was on the mound, it's fair to say that he didn't look like himself. His velocity was down, and his cutter and slider seemed to merge into the same pitch. Despite all that, Scherzer managed a 3.95 ERA and 4.18 FIP. Even if they don't expect Scherzer to put any more black ink on his Baseball Reference page, the Blue Jays clearly think he has more to offer than he showed in 2024.

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand wrote about Scherzer's workout, quoting one source as saying, “He looked like Max Scherzer. His Cy Young days are definitely behind him, but he’s still good enough to be an effective starter.” In 2024, Scherzer's fastball averaged just 92.6 mph. He's no longer the pitcher who was a threat to strike out 20 or throw a perfect game every single time he stepped out on the mound. However, even if Scherzer's ceiling is now that of the third or fourth man in a rotation, hitting it would make a real difference, because the Blue Jays are in need of starting pitching depth. Kevin Gausman is the de facto ace, but he's recently looked more like a number two starter. Chris Bassitt and José Berríos are also dependable arms, but all three of those players are at least 30 years old. Behind them sit Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodríguez, both of whom have a long way to go before they can be considered dependable pieces in a contending rotation. Alek Manoah is still a question mark, and Ricky Tiedemann will miss, at the very least, a large percentage of the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery.

If Scherzer does bounce back to his 2023 form, when he went 13-6 over 27 starts with the Mets and Rangers, throwing 152 2/3 innings with a 3.77 ERA, he'd be a steal for the Blue Jays. However, it's probably unreasonable to expect him to pitch a full complement of innings in 2025. The truth is that even 15 starts with a sub-4.00 ERA would be a valuable addition to a team that may not have a true ace and definitely has some real question marks at the back end of the rotation. It's great to be able to run out a pitcher who can blow the opposition away, but just as important is having pitchers who can at least give you a chance to win every night. Adding Scherzer gives the Blue Jays a much better chance of doing so.

As for the bigger picture, the Blue Jays have now added Scherzer to strengthen the rotation, Anthony Santander to strengthen the lineup, Andres Giménez to strengthen the defense, and Jeff Hoffman to strengthen the bullpen. The chance they took on Myles Straw didn't help them land Roki Sasaki, but it may well help them keep the outfield together until Daulton Varsho is ready to return from hip surgery. With so many prominent misses on high-profile free agents, this may not be the way the Blue Jays hoped the offseason would shake out, but you can't argue that they're not trying to build a contender.

View full article

[Spanky99]

Quick on the draw... thanks Davy! Appreciated.