TORONTO (AP) — Max Scherzer joined the Toronto Blue Jays convinced he can win a World Series with a third team following titles with Washington and Texas.
“Winning cures everything,” the 40-year-old right-hander said Friday, three days after his $15.5 million, one-year contract was announced. "All you need to do to wake up in the morning is to have that drive to win and the rest kind of takes care of itself."
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer was 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA last year for the Rangers. He started the season on the injured list while recovering from lower back surgery and was on the IL from Aug. 2 to Sept. 13 because of shoulder fatigue. He didn’t pitch after Sept. 14 because of a left hamstring strain.
Scherzer feels healthy.
“Normal ramp up kind of in the lifting, normal ramp up in the throwing, right where I need to be in terms of my bullpen progression,” he said during a Zoom news conference. "So I’m looking to come in here into spring training at full tilt."
He joined a rotation projected to include José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis.
"The backbone of any team is always the starting rotation," Scherzer said. "It doesn’t matter how much offense you got, if you don’t have a starting staff, you’re always going to be in trouble if you don’t have starters going out there and eating innings."
Scherzer learned about the current Blue Jays when he spoke with Bassitt, a New York Mets teammate in 2022, and assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense, a University of Missouri teammate from 2004-06.
“Just understanding how the team is, how the organization is, how they treat the families and how the guys on the team are, where the state of the organization is, how they want to improve,” Scherzer said. “I had a good chat with those guys how the Blue Jays handle everything and felt like this was going to be a fit.”
A Florida resident, Scherzer had geography in mind when considering teams.
“First and foremost is kind of staying here on the East Coast, especially with my family here in Florida, the kids are in school,” he said. “That makes it very easy to be able to get back and forth, be able to see them and have them be able to travel in, as well.”
Scherzer is 216-112 with a 3.16 ERA over 17 seasons with 3,407 strikeouts in 2,878 innings. His average fastball velocity has dropped from 94.7 mph in 2020 to 92.5 mph last year.
“I still feel I can pitch at a very high level here. I frankly got all the pitches to be able to navigate a lineup,” he said. “It’s not about throwing 98. If you can throw 94, 95, you can get a lot of people out.”
He limits his use of analytics.
“There’s too much data actually,” he said. “What we’re talking about with pitching now I actually completely disagree with. And so for me I understand what I do well, what I need to look at, what I actually need to be thinking about in terms of all my pitches, in terms of everything I’m doing. ... There’s some data that’s good, but a lot of data is bad."
While Scherzer spent parts of parts of nine seasons in the NL East, this will be his first time in the AL East.
“You got five teams that can all beat each other up. So that’s the good news," he said. “When you're in a highly competitive division, that only makes you better. ... It makes you battle-tested."
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. negotiations are ongoing
Star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has said he won't negotiate a long-term contract after Toronto starts full-squad workouts on Feb. 18.
The 25-year-old, a four-time All-Star, has a $28.5 million, one-year contract and can become a free agent after the World Series.
“You all know our desire to have him here for a long time, and we’ll continue to work towards that," Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told reporters during the news conference.
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The Associated Press
