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When the Blue Jays signed Max Scherzer, they were taking a chance. The former Cy Young winner hadn’t played a complete season since the first bit of the pandemic.At some point in the off-season, the Jays tried to sign every big-money free-agent starter on the market. They were snubbed by all of them. Scherzer was the last guy on the shelf. It’d be understandable if a little shopper’s panic set in.A few weeks into spring training, Scherzer volunteered to a reporter that he was recovered from his previous injuries, but was now injured in a new way. Something was wrong with the thumb on his pitching hand.All of us need our thumb, but on a list of professions for which it is most important, I’d put brain surgeon, Jeopardy! contestant and Major League Baseball pitcher in the top three spots.What sort of team knowingly hires a frequently hurt 40-year-old who’s hurt right now to a one-year deal? Your Toronto Blue Jays, apparently.“Every acquisition comes with risk, but it felt like it was worth acquiring him,” Jays GM Ross Atkins said last Wednesday. “We feel very good about him being here today.”After his regular-season debut on Saturday, maybe less so, and for more than one reason.Against the Baltimore Orioles, Scherzer gave up two quick home runs, lasted three innings and then pulled himself with what was described as “lat soreness.”The problem? You didn’t guess it because they didn’t want you to, except no one told Scherzer the plan.
I was one of those hoping the Nats would have signed him.
The pain of a cortisone injection to his ailing thumb isn’t what has Max Scherzer hurting.“It doesn’t feel good,” he said of the injection, “but you'll take any pain to get out there. The pain’s not the problem. The pain is not being able to pitch and be out there. That’s what stinks … Not playing is the worst part.”The 40-year-old pitcher lasted three innings in his Toronto Blue Jay debut Saturday, then shut it down because of soreness in his right lat muscle. The lat pain comes from his body compensating from the thumb discomfort from his grip.“You can’t override and pitch through that pain,” he explained. “Because once that’s compromised, it compromises the rest of your arm.”Past ailments in his shoulder and back have stemmed from the thumb.As for his return, Scherzer said he is day to day.“You've got to let the cortisone shot work. Typically I really respond well to cortisone,” he said. “I've had plenty of these shots over my career.”He hopes to play catch Friday to see how it feels. The good news is the lat pain has gone.
Really hard to get used to seeing him in a Blue Jays uniform.
Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer, who’s on the injured list due to right thumb inflammation, was scheduled to visit a hand specialist on Wednesday in Florida.Toronto manager John Schneider said the veteran right-hander, who threw on Monday and Tuesday, planned to meet with Dr. Veronica Diaz. Based in Jupiter, Fla., she has served as a consultant with one of Scherzer’s former teams, the Washington Nationals.“It’s like a day-to-day thing,” Schneider said Wednesday. “And I think getting clarity from a doctor he’s familiar with will hopefully keep that going in the same direction.“But he was more encouraged with how it felt yesterday than he was when he was in Baltimore.”Scherzer, who threw a few times during the Blue Jays’ recent road trip, received a cortisone injection on March 31 during a visit with Dr. Thomas Graham.In his first start for Toronto on March 29 against the Orioles, Scherzer left after three innings because of back muscle soreness. He said the thumb issue was to blame, and he was added to the 15-day IL the next day.“You don’t want it to linger and you don’t want him to miss an extended period of time,” Schneider said before Toronto’s matinee against the Atlanta Braves. “He was more encouraged yesterday in talking to him and a little bit more today, so that’s a good thing.
Nats should trade a useless minor-leaguer for Max at the deadline. Toronto will have paid about half his $15 million pro-rated; He starts a game or two for the Nats and retires.
Didn’t max see a hand specialist recently? No guarantee he pitches again.
Got a second cortisone shot in his thumb
That’s not good at all.
Let the Jays release Max come August or September and let the Nats sign him to a one-day contract. Let Max take the mound in a Nats uniform one last time, and remove him before he throws a pitch. Let Max retire as a Nat.
