Blue Jays and Max Scherzer Agree to Deal as Toronto Bolsters Pitching Depth
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The Toronto Blue Jays have had one of the busiest off-seasons in baseball. They signed a front line starter in Dylan Cease, a middle of the order bat in Kazuma Okamoto and a lock down reliever in Tyler Rogers. Despite losing Bo Bichette in free agency, the Blue Jays improved in two notable spots on the pitching side.
Now in Spring Training, the team will spend the next month evaluating and determining the roster that will defend the American League Pennant. After improving the rotation with Cease over the winter, Toronto wasn't done fortifying the staff.
Just after midnight on the East Coast, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that the Blue Jays had re-signed Max Scherzer, brining back one of the key arms to their World Series run. The one year pact is for $3 million with $10 million in incentives, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
Scherzer Provides Depth Amid Rotation Questions
Toronto's rotation will begin the season with some question marks surrounding it. After ace Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, there isn't exactly a spot locked down. The closest thing to that would be rookie Trey Yesavage, who's postseason heroics will not be soon forgotten.
Yesavage only threw 14 regular season innings last year, but went on to throw 27.2 innings in the playoffs. That excellence may not transition so smoothly right away, but he has earned the right to be in the rotation regardless.
They also brought back Shane Bieber, but he is going to miss the beginning of the season with an injury, so he won't factor in right away. Cody Ponce came over from Korea, but he represents a pretty large unknown. In 55.1 MLB innings, he had a 5.86 ERA.
That said, he did pitch to a 1.89 ERA with 252 strikeouts in 180.2 innings in Korea last season. Whether or not that will translate will be seen over the course of the next two months.
After Ponce, it is Eric Lauer and José Berríos. Berríos was pulled from the rotation at the end of last season, but Lauer was good in a hybrid spot-start roll. The best version of Toronto's rotation doesn't include those two pitchers throwing every five days.
In comes Scherzer, a known veteran who can provide innings for a rotation in need out of the gate. In 85 innings last season, Scherzer struggled for the first time in 15 years. He had an 5.19 ERA and an 82 ERA+, his worst mark since 2011.
He's not the three time Cy Young winner anymore, but in 14.1 postseason innings, Scherzer stepped up. He posted a 3.77 ERA and gave the Blue Jays 4.1 innings of one run ball in Game 7 of the World Series.
His usage will be a question mark as it gets later in the season, but Scherzer brings experience with the team and recent success back to rotation that will need it early on.
