Max Scherzer will sign a one-year, $15.5 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. This will be the seventh team for the 40-year old starting pitcher.
Toronto was looking to bolster its starting pitching in the offseason and were in the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes until the final round when Sasaki signed with the Dodgers. On Thursday, the Blue Jays made the pivot from Sasaki and will be signing Scherzer, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.
Scherzer began his MLB career after the Arizona Diamondbacks selected him with the 11th overall pick in 2006. He then pitched for the Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and Texas Rangers.
He’s been named an All-Star eight times, helped win two World Series, won the Cy Young three times and led the National League in strikeouts three times. The career ERA is 3.16 in 2,878 innings pitched.
From 2013 to 2018, Scherzer was a workhorse in the purest sense of the word, pitching at least 200 innings in each of those seasons. From 2012 to 2023, he posted a double-digit K/9. Scherzer has struck out over 200 batters in nine seasons with a high of 300 during the 2018 campaign.
At 40 years old, Father Time has been poking him, as he’s missed games due to injury and his stuff has deteriorated. Last season’s 8.31 K/9 was his lowest since 2011, but he had surgery on a herniated disc in the offseason and dealt with arm fatigue and nerve issues during the season before a hamstring strain ended it.
Just two seasons ago, though, Scherzer pitched 152.2 innings between New York and Texas, posting a 10.3 K/9. He allowed a career-high 1.7 HR/9 and 4.32 FIP, but there are signs that Scherzer can still be productive at 40 years old.
Scherzer has never been a high-velocity pitcher, as the fastball average hovered in the 94 mph range. It’s ticked down to the 92-93 mph range over the last two seasons, but he’s still missing bats and getting batters to chase. The swinging strike rate was 14.6% last season while the chase rate was 36%.
Not all is sunshine and unicorns, though.
Scherzer has always been a flyball pitcher and the AL East can be brutal with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. In addition, he’s 40 years old and durability is no longer a given.
That said, he does improve the starting rotation for the Blue Jays that is currently led by Kevin Gausman and Jose Berrios.
