Sources – Blue Jays reaches the agreement with the free agent Max Scherzer

The right -hander Max Scherzer and the Blue Jays de Toronto agree on a one -year contract of $ 15.5 million, sources said in ESPN on Thursday, uniting the future temple of renowned free agent activities.

Scherzer, 40 years old, one of the best launchers of his generation and a future temple of the renown of the first ball, has just come out of an injury season with the Texas Rangers in which he only made nine departures and is went 2-4 with an MPM of 3.95. He did not make his first departure until June 23 after a surgery during the offseason to repair a disk hernia on his back. He then missed August with shoulder fatigue, returning to start in September before an injury to the hamstrings ended his season.

Toronto will nevertheless make Scherzer in his rotation, while waiting for a physique, and will add to what was already a force, with the veterans Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt, as well as Bowden Francis, who was one of the best launchers in baseball At the bottom of the section in the section in 2024.

The Blue Jays had aimed to sign several nine -digit players this winter, going after the Outyer Juan Soto and runners Corbin Burnes and Max Fried. Everyone has chosen to sign elsewhere, just like Roki Sasaki, the 23 -year -old Japanese star who is now n ° 1 on the list of the 100 best prospects of Kiley McDaniel for ESPN. Toronto has concluded an agreement of $ 92.5 million over five years with the Voltigeur Anthony Santander to strengthen his outdoor field, and in Scherzer, he adds a veteran whose after-season experience should help if the Blue Jays can Navigate the Gauntlet East League American.

Once a sustainable battle horse which has made more than 30 departures and more each season from 2009 to 2018, Scherzer has now missed a lot of time each of the last three seasons, making 23 departures in 2022 while lacking time with oblique tension And by making 27 departures in 2023 due to a tense shoulder and rear spasms.

While Scherzer’s fast ball took a step back last year, he brandished an arsenal of five pass and will count on the control which was a characteristic throughout his 17 -year career. Its last year’s withdrawal rate fell to 22.6%, against 28%and well below its 2021-22 seasons, when it had more than 30%. He granted an OPS of .724, greater than the MLB average of 0.711.

Scherzer was a free agent for the third time in his career. Before the 2015 season, he agreed with a seven -year contract of $ 210 million with the Washington Nationals which turned out to be one of the best signatures of all time for a free agent launcher. Scherzer won the second and third Cy Young Awards in his career, ended in the top three in three other seasons and helped the Nationals win the World Series in 2019, going 3-0 with a 2.40 MPM which, In the playoffs and start of the match, the world of series while launching a neck injury.

It was exchanged to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 during the last year of this contract, then signed a three -year contract, $ 130 million with the New York dishes, the highest annual average value for a A player at the time (corresponding to a year later by Justin Verlander, then exceeded by Shohei Ohtani in 2024). The dishes made the playoffs this first year while Scherzer displayed an MPM of 2.23, but it was exchanged to the Rangers in 2023 – and helped them in a title of the World Series, although the injuries have it Limited to only 9.2 rounds in three departures in the playoff series (he made three -sleeves aimless in his start in a single world series).

The All-Star eight times is 216-112 in his career with the three prizes CY Young and 75.4 War. Among the active launchers, only Verlander has more victories and only Verlander and Clayton Kershaw have a higher war.

The New York Post first reported the agreement between Scherzer and the Blue Jays.

David Schoenfield of ESPN contributed to this report.