The Toronto Blue Jays are one of the most stacked teams in the American League. They just strengthened that case.
The Blue Jays have re-signed future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Max Scherzer to a one-year, $3 million deal, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. This deal has $10 million in incentives that start at 65 innings pitched, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The three-time Cy Young award winner will re-up with the AL champs for what could be one last ride.
Scherzer signed a one-year, $15.5 million contract with Toronto during the 2024-25 offseason, so this will be a considerable pay cut.
What Does Scherzer Bring to the Toronto Blue Jays?
While Scherzer isn’t the same pitcher who could get batters out at an elite level, he’s still a good pitcher. The only issue is that he has struggled to stay healthy the last few years.
Since 2022, he has pitched in just 76 games. Last year with Toronto, Scherzer pitched in just 17 games to a 5.19 ERA, slowed down by multiple injuries.
In the playoffs, he was a bigger factor. In three games (14.1 innings), Scherzer pitched to a 3.77 ERA, including an admirable Game 7 where he pitched 4.1 innings of one-run ball.
His once-overpowering fastball averaged just 93.6 mph in 2025. He no longer generates the same amount of swing-and-misses that got him 3489 career strikeouts.
Going into his age-42 season, Scherzer will have to rely more on deception to get outs. Unfortunately, he was among the worst in baseball in ground-ball rate (27.5%), per Baseball Savant.
So, was this a good signing for Toronto?
Where Does Scherzer Fit in Toronto?
It’s hard to say where Scherzer fits on the Blue Jays after an active offseason. Toronto signed Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce and other names to an already strong roster.
Those names were added to an already strong rotation with Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber and Eric Lauer.
Because of the emergence of Yesavage in the playoffs, Scherzer’s rotation spot is tenuous at best.
While Bieber will begin the year on the injured list due to forearm fatigue, Scherzer still may not have a spot in the rotation. But, there may be some openings for Scherzer to start.
Yesavage will be entering his first full MLB season, meaning there could be some struggles along the way, although unlikely. Ponce will be coming back to MLB after spending time in Korea.
It’s possible the Blue Jays could open with a six-man rotation to slowly ramp up those two guys, with Scherzer being included.
While he isn’t going to pitch many innings at this stage of his career, as assumed by the incentives in his contract, he can still make an impact.
With Lauer unlikely to win a rotation spot, he will go to the bullpen as a long reliever. While Lauer does that, it’s possible Scherzer could be the right-handed version and be a long reliever and/or spot starter.
It’s always nice to have a veteran that you can call upon if injuries happen. But if he stays healthy and gets back to form, Scherzer can be a valuable weapon for a World Series contender.
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