Max Scherzer is set to rejoin the Toronto Blue Jays after reaching an agreement on a one-year, $3-million deal with up to $10 million in performance bonuses, according to an industry source.
How exactly the 41-year-old fits the club’s pitching puzzle isn’t immediately clear. But even after Shane Bieber exercised his player option and the Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce, the sides remained interested in a reunion and sought ways to make that happen.
Colleague Ben Nicholson-Smith reported last week that discussions had picked up, leading to the agreement late Wednesday night. Jon Heyman of the New York Post first had the deal, while Sportsnet first had the terms.
Scherzer appeared in 17 games and logged 85 innings last year before making three more starts in the playoffs, including his memorable gem in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. He also threw 4.1 innings of one-run ball in Game 7 of the World Series and said afterwards, “There’s no way that was my last pitch.”
As much as the Blue Jays appreciated his on-field efforts, his contributions off the field were just as valued, bringing teammates together, sharing information and using his knowledge to challenge the organization on everything from pitch sequencing to defensive alignments.
Scherzer reciprocated those feelings, telling his teammates after Game 7, “something to the effect of me being 41 years old, I never thought I could love baseball this much. … My love for the game was so strong because of their love for the game and going to battle with these guys.”
Given that the season starts in 30 days, Scherzer is unlikely to have enough time to ramp up for Opening Day, punting the roster-fit question down the road. Bieber also won’t be ready for Opening Day — he’s still building up to his first side of the spring — but that still leaves Kevin Gausman, Cease, Ponce, Trey Yesavage and Jose Berrios for the rotation, with Eric Lauer targeting a rotation spot, too.
Manager John Schneider, who gets his daily office pop-ins from Scherzer back, said earlier this week that Yesavage won’t start in a spring game until next week “because he went from having the probably longest off-season possible after he gets drafted, to the shortest one possible after his first full year.”
“Trying to be strategic,” Schneider continued.
“Looking at the broad picture, I think it would be unrealistic to say, all right, ‘Trey, first year in the big leagues, here’s your 32 starts and your 200 innings.’ We’re trying to stay aware of that. And there are probably going to be some times where you have to hone him in a little bit, and if you can manoeuvre the rotation a little bit, yeah. But he’s on a little bit of a different ramp-up. He’s thrown a live. He threw a side (Tuesday). He’s probably going to throw another live even before games. We just want to be really mindful with how we’re getting him ready.”
All of which points to the possibility of some usage creativity, balancing various needs and workloads. Scherzer builds out more depth as the Blue Jays know well how quickly today’s surplus can turn into tomorrow’s need.