Max Scherzer will continue his Hall of Fame career with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner agreed to a one-year, $15.5 million contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The Blue Jays appeared to confirm the report with a tweet of two differently colored circles, an apparent nod to Scherzer’s heterochromia.
Scherzer had been rumored for weeks to be a potential match with the Blue Jays, who entered the offseason in search of some starting pitching, among other things. They were among the three finalists for Roki Sasaki, who would’ve been their top target, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post also noted that they were in on starters Corbin Burnes and Max Fried.
After losing Sasaki to the Dodgers, the Jays brought in a former Dodgers starter. Scherzer is four years removed from his most recent All-Star berth and eight years removed from winning the Cy Young, but he has remained effective in the recent, journeyman portion of his career.
The bigger issue for Scherzer over the past few years has been health. He missed time in 2023 due to a back strain, came back in time to help the Rangers win the World Series, then got shut down again before undergoing surgery on a herniated disc. He didn’t make his 2024 debut until June and returned to the injured list twice due to shoulder fatigue and a hamstring strain.
Scherzer will join a Blue Jays rotation that has plenty of veteran talent in Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. Scherzer was ranked No. 42 on Yahoo Sports’ list of MLB free agents.
Toronto still has some items on its to-do list, but it can at least say it has landed some notable talents. In addition to Scherzer, the team signed slugger Anthony Santander to a five-year, $92.5 million deal, signed reliever Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million deal and traded for second baseman Andrés Giménez.
What to make of this deal for Scherzer and the Jays?
It wasn’t much of a mystery what kind of contract Scherzer would command after fellow veteran right-handers Alex Cobb, Charlie Morton and Justin Verlander all inked one-year, $15M pacts earlier this winter, but it took a while for Scherzer’s potential landing spots to crystalize. Ultimately, the Blue Jays emerged as the strongest candidates to secure the future Hall of Famer’s services, and a deal came together less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers will report to spring…