The Mets also finalized deals this week with center fielder Starling Marte ($78 million for four years) and outfielder/first baseman Mark Canha ($26.5 million over two years with a club option). The Mets lost out on left-hander Steven Matz, whose $44 million, four-year contract with the St. Noah Syndergaard, returning from Tommy John surgery, left for a $21 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels. They’ll top a rotation that also includes Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker and Tylor Megill. “I know how powerful that can be, to have guys to feed off of and watch great pitchers.”ĭeGrom didn’t pitch after July 7 this year because of right forearm tightness, and Scherzer said he called deGrom to check on his status and inquire about the New York market before signing. “I’ve been fortunate throughout my whole career to have great starting pitchers beside me,” Scherzer said. Scherzer has also been teammates with Cy Young winners David Price, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, Robbie Ray, Brandon Webb and Randy Johnson. Scherzer did it with Clayton Kershaw last season, and the Mets had the previous two pairings with Martinez-Santana in 2008 and Martinez-Glavine from 2005-07. Scherzer and deGrom will be the seventh pair of teammates to pitch together after winning multiple Cy Youngs. That’s two more than any other franchise, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He finished third in this year’s NL balloting behind Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes and Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler.ĭeGrom won the Cy Young Award in 2018 and ’19, and Scherzer will be the seventh multi-time Cy Young winner to pitch for the Mets - also Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Bret Saberhagen, Johan Santana and Tom Seaver. Scherzer won his first Cy Young in 2013 with Detroit, then consecutive best-pitcher awards in 2016 and ’17 with Washington.
With his young daughters starting school, that proximity played in New York’s favor. Scherzer, who has thrown two no-hitters, lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, about an hour’s drive from the Mets spring training complex in Port St. “I might have added a little more for brand building, but that’s how I got to the number,” he said.ĭistinctive and fearsome with a blue eye on the right side and a brown one on the left - a condition known as Heterochromia Iridis - Scherzer is 190-97 with a 3.16 ERA in 14 major league seasons for Arizona (2008-09), Detroit (2010-14), Washington and the Dodgers. It’s an even better day for our fans.”Ĭohen said new general manager Billy Eppler and the team’s analytics department calculated Scherzer’s value in the “vicinity” of where his contract ended up. “Max is one of the best pitchers of this or any generation,” Cohen said. This deal will raise his career earnings to at least $370 million. Scherzer struck out 236 and walked 36 in 179 1/3 innings, averaging 94.4 mph with his fastball in the final season of a $210 million, seven-year contract that included $105 million in deferred money payable from 2022-28. “From a long-term standpoint, structural standpoint, health standpoint, I’m ready to go.” I overcooked my arm, I worked past my work capacity and what it was built for. “I needed to see where my arm was at, make sure there wasn’t any damage, and there wasn’t,” he said. He’s back on his normal offsesaon program, and he said the arm has turned a corner and felt better over the past two weeks. Scherzer said he took about two weeks off before resuming throwing. The Dodgers lost that game to end the series.
He was unable to start Game 6 of the NL Championship Series against Atlanta as planned due to arm fatigue.
The right-hander ran out of steam following heavy usage in the postseason, though. He didn’t lose a game after May 30 and was as dominant as ever in his first nine starts with LA, going 7-0 with an 0.78 ERA. The eight-time All-Star was 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA last season with the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers, who acquired him on July 30. Scherzer has the right to opt out after the 2023 season and become a free agent again. The 37-year-old Scherzer will earn $43.33 million per year, 20% higher than the previous mark, the $36 million Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is averaging in his $324 million, nine-year contract signed prior to the 2020 season. Of course, Cohen put his wallet behind his words. “When you hear an owner wants to do what it takes to win, obviously that piqued my interest.” “You don’t hear that from owners too much these days,” Scherzer said Wednesday. Scherzer said he was convinced during a video call with Cohen last month that the second-year owner was going to do whatever it took to build a winner in Flushing.