{"id":90712,"date":"2024-11-30T17:36:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T22:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=90712"},"modified":"2024-11-30T17:36:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T22:36:38","slug":"max-scherzer-coveted-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/30\/max-scherzer-coveted-free-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Three-Time Cy Young Winner a Coveted Free Agent Pickup"},"content":{"rendered":"

40-year-old free agent Max Scherzer<\/a> will be entering his 17th season in MLB in 2025 as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation. This offseason he comes in as a free agent who is still highly touted, with a career ERA of 3.16. Scherzer is the only pitcher in MLB history to collect more than 3,000 strikeouts and less than 700 walks. Scherzer, a future Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star, and three-time Cy Young Award winner, has pitched two no-hitters and won two World Series titles. One came in 2019 with the Washington Nationals and the other in 2023 with the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n

Scherzer has been one of the highest-paid pitchers in MLB in recent years, banking\u00a0$43.3 million<\/a> in both 2022 and 2023. Ex-teammate Justin Verlander<\/a>, likely on his way to Cooperstown<\/a> as well, is also a free agent this offseason. Both have also pitched for the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n

Max Scherzer Free Agent Profile<\/h2>\n

Strengths and Weaknesses<\/h3>\n

Across five seasons spent with the Tigers, Scherzer was an All-Star twice and won one of his Cy Young Awards in 2013. He was also an anchor to the Tigers’ success in winning four consecutive AL Central titles from 2011 to 2014. Back on November 29th, 2021, Scherzer<\/a> signed a three-year, $130 million deal with the New York Mets.<\/p>\n

Across 42 starts for the Mets, Scherzer sported a record of 20-9 with an ERA of 3.02. He was then traded to the Rangers<\/a> in 2023. With Washington, he led the National League in strikeouts three times, from 2016 to 2018. All his career accolades make Scherzer a valuable veteran to pick up this offseason. The only downsides that Scherzer currently possesses are his tendency to give up home runs, recent injuries<\/a> that have impacted his playing time, and a decrease in his fastball velocity. But despite some obstacles, he’s always been a gamer and a class act.<\/p>\n

Landing Spots for Scherzer<\/h3>\n

San Francisco Giants<\/h4>\n

This offseason, the Giants need to address their starting pitching as well as contact and speed. \u00a0<\/span>Even with improvement from starters Hayden Birdsong<\/a> and Kyle Harrison<\/a>, the Giants adding another anchor at the top of the rotation with Logan Webb<\/a> and Robbie Ray<\/a> will be vital to their success in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Philadelphia Phillies<\/h4>\n

Scherzer would make a suitable fit with the Phillies, as he would reunite with Dave Dombrowski. In addition, it could give him a real chance at another World Series ring by joining a Phillies roster filled with sensations like Trea Turner<\/a>, Bryce Harper<\/a>, and Zack Wheeler<\/a>. The Phillies need to add a fifth high-profile starter to their rotation and Max would fit that necessity. The Phillies not having to face Scherzer in 2025 would be a relief as Scherzer owns an 18-5 record in his career against them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo Credit: \u00a9 Steven Bisig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

40-year-old free agent Max Scherzer will be entering his 17th season in MLB in 2025 as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation. This offseason he comes in as a free agent who is still highly touted, with a career ERA of 3.16. Scherzer is the only pitcher in MLB history to collect more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4831,"featured_media":90815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,18],"tags":[85,247,3774,3037,79,164,2637,300,38,683],"class_list":["post-90712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-rangers","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-justin-verlander","tag-kyle-harrison","tag-logan-webb","tag-max-scherzer","tag-new-york-mets","tag-robbie-ray","tag-trea-turner","tag-washington-nationals","tag-zack-wheeler"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4831"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}