The Toronto Blue Jays have signed veteran free agent pitcher Max Scherzer to a 1 year, $15.5M contract the team announced Thursday.
While the deal is contingent on a physical, Scherzer will head north of the border to help shore up the back end of Toronto’s rotation for 2025. The 40-year-old was limited to just nine starts with Texas last year, going 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA after beginning the season on the IL while recovering from back surgery.
Scherzer joins a rotation that which will feature Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt. With the former Cy Young winner expected to slot into the 4th spot, the Blue Jays will likely have Bowden Francis and Yariel Rodríguez battle it out for the 5th spot in the rotation.
Nevertheless, adding a veteran of Scherzer’s ilk will add depth to the Jays starting pitching, and give them some options should injuries pop up during the season.
Scherzer sports a 216-112 career record with a 3.16 ERA across 466 games spanning 17 seasons. He also has 3,407 strikeouts in 2,878 innings. Those marks rank him second amongst active pitchers in strikeouts, wins and innings, trailing only Justin Verlander in each category.
It’s been well documented how the Jays have fallen agonizingly short in the Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. However, Scherzer now joins recent offseason additions Anthony Santandar, infielder Andrés Giménez, as well as relievers Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, and Nick Sandlin.
With most of the major additions likely now done for Toronto, the final major piece of business will be for the club to come to terms with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a long term extension.
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.