Max Scherzer could wait to sign after opening day

Future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer came within a few outs of winning his third career World Series ring before his Blue Jays fell to the Dodgers in November, and the end of the 2025 season came with Scherzer’s third foray into free agency in the past five years. Now 41 and approaching his 42nd birthday next July, Scherzer is no longer the superstar he once was. However, the right-hander still believes he can help a team in the right circumstances. The right-hander told it Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic recently that while he is healthy and ready to sign if the right situation presents itself, he would be willing to sit out the start of the season and sign after opening day if it meant finding his way to a preferred team.

Rosenthal made it clear that Scherzer has not revealed which teams he would most like to play for, but it is easy to imagine that Scherzer will prioritize playing for a team that he believes has a legitimate chance to win a World Series this year as he enters the twilight of his career. While waiting to sign is always risky, Scherzer could be a valuable asset to contending teams in need of depth at some point this year if he remains unsigned beyond opening day. Rosenthal compares Roger Clemens‘s last season in the Majors, when he famously waited to sign until he could close a deal with the Yankees in early May. A more recent player who took a similar approach was a legitimate reliever David Robertsonwho entered his age-40 season last year and waited to sign until the second half, when he landed with the Phillies and made 20 appearances to solidify their bullpen.

Both comparisons show what teams can expect from Scherzer at this point. Clemens threw 99 innings for the Yankees in his age 44 campaign, pitching to a 4.18 ERA with a 4.14 FIP. That was the fifth-highest ERA of his storied 24-year career. Likewise, Robertson posted a decent but unspectacular 4.08 ERA and 4.95 FIP in his time with Philadelphia last season. In Scherzer’s case, the right-hander is coming off 17 starts for the Blue Jays, where at times he looked like his typical dominant self and at other times looked like what you would expect a pitcher in his early 40s with nearly 3,000 innings of mileage on his arm to look like. That all added up to a 5.17 ERA and a 4.99 FIP, though he managed to turn things up a notch in the playoffs, building a 3.77 ERA over three starts against the Mariners and Dodgers.

While Scherzer has indicated he is willing to find the right fit, that doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be able to find a match before Spring Training begins next month. If we look solely at teams that made the playoffs last year, the Brewers just traded Freddy Peralta and certainly wouldn’t mind pairing with an experienced innings eater Brandon Woodruff as a leader for their young staff. The Padres could certainly squeeze Scherzer into their rotation and push JP Sears in a depth role. The Phillies start the season with both swingman Taijuan hiker and prospect Andreas Schilder in the rotation. The Tigers are reportedly looking for a back-end starter and could mean a nice homecoming for Scherzer, who won his first Cy Young award with the club. Other teams like the Marlins and Athletics could certainly benefit from Scherzer’s addition as well, but those clubs may not be clear enough contenders on paper to intrigue the veteran pitcher.