Detroit Jock City
Fansided

Should the Detroit Tigers pay Max Scherzer This Offseason?

By Souichi Terada

facebooktwitterreddit

Max Scherzer is one of the most sought after Free Agents on the market. It’s well deserved too.

After winning the 2013 AL Cy Young Award and another successful season in 2014, Max Scherzer is one of the best pitchers in the entire baseball world.

More from Detroit Sports

Though he’s been really good for a couple of years, many skeptics don’t realize he’s been good for some time now.

All the way back in the second half of the 2010 season he finished very strongly. He led the league in wins a handful of starts into the 2011 season too. In the latter half of the 2012 season, Scherzer started his recent stretch of dominance.

That year, he was neck and neck with the 2011 AL MVP Justin Verlander for the AL lead in strikeouts. The only thing that stopped him was some shoulder issues near the end of the year.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Scherzer though. After being traded to the Detroit Tigers during the 2009 offseason, he came out very, very slowly. Eventually he was demoted to the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers’ Triple-AAA affiliate to work on his mechanics.Those same mechanics problems had been a plague throughout his career. With his unique pitching motion, it’s really easy for a minor tweak to affect his performance largely.

More from Detroit Jock City

Fortunately for Scherzer and the Tigers, he has moved past those problems and was spectacular in the last few seasons.

His recent run of success has suddenly made him a high commodity among every team in the majors. Scherzer rejected a 6 year, $144 million contract at the start of the 2014 season from the Detroit Tigers. With his agent being Scott Boras, Scherzer is planning to cash in this offseason.

Max Scherzer is a wonderful pitcher and will be paid handsomely by a team this off-season. Whether it’s the Tigers though, remains to be seen.

After going 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA in 220.1 IP, he pitched almost as well as he did in this Cy Young winning year in 2013. Though the Tigers needed every bit of a good Scherzer this year in a slim AL Central, it only drove his price range up.

With Scherzer, the Tigers will have one of the best rotations in the Majors for a 3rd straight year. Without Scherzer, the Tigers still have 4 very good starters.

Sep 9, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Max Scherzer (37) tips his hat to the fans as he walks off the field after being relieved in the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Tigers also need to consider letting Scherzer walk for the draft pick. With their farm systems one of the worst in the majors, they need to get all the draft picks they possibly can.

After paying Victor Martinez another $17 million per year for 4 years, it remains to be seen if GM Dave Dombrowski will want another high-priced contract in the long-term, especially this year.

With Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, and Victor Martinez now all signed until their late-30’s, the Tigers need to be careful with the Scherzer situation.

Now, your thoughts. Do you think the Tigers should pursue Scherzer? Or should they let him walk and just take the draft pick?

Home/Detroit Sports