The Blue Jays have been mentioned as a player for every big-time free agent who has hit the market over the last couple of years, but have mostly come up short in their pursuits.
They were able to land Anthony Santander earlier in January, and now they have hooked a future Hall of Famer for their pitching staff.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that Scherzer will receive $15.5 million for signing with the Blue Jays, with Passan noting that Toronto has been interested in adding Scherzer for “weeks.”
Here’s a look at what Scherzer can bring to the Blue Jays, and what — if any — potential fantasy value is there for the 2025 campaign.
What has Scherzer done over the last couple of seasons?
It goes without saying, but it’ll be said anyway: Scherzer is one of the best right-handed pitchers in the history of the sport. He’s won three Cy Young Awards while finishing in the top five of voting an incredible seven consecutive seasons between 2013-2019. He was just so-so in the truncated 2020 season, but was third again in Cy Young voting while being particularly impressive after a trade from the Nationals to the Dodgers.
Since the 2022 season, Scherzer has been solid, just not on the mound nearly as often. In 59 starts with the Mets and Rangers he’s forged a 3.16 ERA, a 10.2 K/9, and 1.03 WHIP over 341 1/3 innings. He was limited to just nine starts in 2024 while recovering from arm fatigue and nerve issues with Texas and finished with a 3.95 ERA and 40/10 K/BB across 43 1/3 innings.
What does Scherzer still do well to keep him fantasy relevant?
Scherzer relies more on deception than ever — more on that in a bit — and he routinely gets hitters to swing at pitches outside of the strike zone. He didn’t qualify because of his lack of innings, but his 36.4 percent generated chase rate would have ranked with the very best in baseball. It also helped him generate whiffs on 29.2 percent of his swings against and a hard-hit percentage of just 34.9; again, numbers that would have ranked very highly if he had pitched enough innings to qualify.
Scherzer’s slider remains one of the best in the game, and hitters swung-and-missed at that pitch 43.8 percent of the time while hitting a paltry .214 against it. Add in competent — if no longer dominant — pitches in his change, curve and cutter and Scherzer still has the arsenal to be an excellent starting option. When you add in the fact that he pounds the strike zone as seen in just a 5.8 percent walk rate in 2024, you have…