The Toronto Blue Jays have been hyperactive in the free agent market over the past couple of weeks, and they added three-time Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer to their starting rotation for the upcoming campaign. Scherzer agreed to a one-year, $15.5 million deal with the Blue Jays on Thursday.
MLB insider Robert Murray stated that the market value of Max Scherzer had already been determined after fellow 40-year-old starting pitchers Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton earlier this offseason. He credited the Toronto Blue Jays for going just over the mark to seal the deal by paying the pitcher the price that his agent, Scott Boras, must have put on him.
Robert Murray is an MLB columnist for FanSided and the co-host of The Baseball Insiders podcast. He gave his opinion on Max Scherzer signing for the Blue Jays during the show on Friday. [3:47 - 7:05]
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"As far as Scherzer goes, I thought that was a fit that made sense all along," Murray said. "I'm a little surprised by the timing of it, just because the Blue Jays would have to add another bat in order to convince Scherzer to go there, because you think at this point in his career, he's going to want to end up being on a contending team.
"Scherzer was a big priority for them; they got it done," he added. "$15.5 million. That's not an accident because as soon as we saw Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton sign for $15 million, that was going to be the benchmark for Scherzer. [Scott] Boras ended up getting him 500k more, and Scherzer is now in Toronto."
Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton had both signed one-year deals worth $15 million with the San Francisco Giants and the Baltimore Orioles, respectively.
I don't think they're done: Robert Murray expects Blue Jays to add more after signing Max Scherzer
Robert Murray praised Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins for successfully pivoting from their early disappointment in the off-season to build a competitive team for the 2025 campaign by adding some highly rated free agents. He feels the Blue Jays will attempt to bring another high-profile addition to their lineup, such as Pete Alonso or Alex Bregman.
"They're going out and proving everyone wrong. They're going out and getting Max Scherzer, they're getting Anthony Santander, they're getting [Andres] Jimenez, they're getting Jeff Hoffman, they're getting a lot of these guys. I think Ross Atkins and that front office deserve a ton of credit because things were in a really dark spot in this offseason."
"They're positioning that roster to be a contender again," Murray added. "I don't think they're done. I still think they're going to try and pursue Pete Alonso or Alex Bregman."
Alonso and Bregman are considered to be the foremost free agents that are still out in the open market.
