According to Pat Ragazzo of Sports Illustrated, the New York Yankees were among teams in attendance for Max Scherzer’s bullpen session, and scouts were impressed with what they saw. This took place at Cressey Sports Performance’s pro day earlier in the week per Ragazzo, and the Yankees were also present to watch former Yankee Lou Trivino throw. As for Scherzer, he’s seeking a one-year deal most likely after a tenure in Texas riddled with injuries and inconsistency, as his fastball velocity and overall pitch profiles have regressed with age and injury.
He pitched to a 3.95 ERA across nine starts with the Rangers, striking out 22.6% of batters faced but allowing a 1.45 HR/9, as he’s struggled to keep the ball in the yard. The Yankees are not the only team showing at least some level of interest in monitoring his market, as the Blue Jays have been in contact with the right-hander.
Yankees Watch Max Scherzer’s Pro Day Bullpen, Still Lurking For Pitching Depth
Max Scherzer has been a shell of himself over the past two seasons, as for the first time in his MLB career he recorded back-to-back seasons with a FIP above 4.00. The right-hander has seen his fastball velocity decline from 94.1 MPH in 2022 to 92.6 MPH in 2023, but teams were impressed with what they saw at his pro day. This took place at Cressey Sports Performance as mentioned earlier, owned by Eric Cressey who works in the Yankees organization.
It’s possible that they attended the Pro Day to just scout as many arms as they can and continue to monitor the market as they always do, but it does open the door for some interesting scenarios. Could the Yankees add a starter and potentially trade one of their own guys to land a controllable infielder and solve their biggest issue on the roster? There are still some intriguing starters out there such as Jack Flaherty and Nick Pivetta, who might be better fits than Scherzer.
They could also try Scherzer in a reliever role, but it seems that there are enough teams interested in his services as a starter for him to avoid having to make a late-career role change.
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If they do have interest in Max Scherzer as a starter, he could be added while subtracting someone like Marcus Stroman, giving the rotation some extra depth, but he would have to come in as a sixth starter. Would he be willing to sign with a team without a guaranteed spot in their starting five? Again, most likely not with teams like Toronto interested who do have openings for him in their rotation.
Spring Training isn’t too far away, and that’s where the most injuries occur, so if Scherzer remains unsigned and the Yankees lose an arm to injury early, they could revisit their scouting report on him. As a roster fit, Scherzer doesn’t exactly check off any of the big boxes for the Yankees, as they need an infielder and a left-handed reliever, but things are always evolving and the Yankees could just be preparing in-case they need to add another starter.