Cubs Reportedly Among the Teams Scouting Max Scherzer

Long-time MLB starter and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer wants to keep his career going into his age-40/41 season, looking to bounce back from a 2024 season that saw him make just nine starts for the Rangers due to recovery from back surgery, a shoulder issue, and a hamstring strain. He was generally effective as a mid-rotation type when he could take the mound, but obviously it was not often enough.

So any team looking to bring Scherzer on is going to have to do so with an understanding that you might have to work around more absences, and figure out a way to manage his load. Because of the potential for him to still be very good, though, I don’t doubt a number of teams would take on the challenge.

Would the Cubs be one of those teams? We’ve talked about it before in a superficial way, but that was at the outset of the offseason, and before it became clear that the Cubs were not likely to add any of the surer-fire starter options in free agency. So, I could probably make an argument that Scherzer makes sense for a Cubs team trying to just add up as many innings as possible among a really wide variety of types of arms. That’s especially the case when you’re talking about a short-term deal for a guy with upside, and who brings some added value in the form of a particularly-intense, playoff-experienced guy.

Anyway, that’s all prelude to noting a Pat Ragazzo report on X that the Cubs were among at least eight teams that scouted a recent Scherzer throwing session, together with the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Braves, and Red Sox.

I think it’s important to note that the Cubs could have SO MANY reasons to scout a guy like Scherzer, even if their interest in signing him (and vice versa) were merely tepid. It’s an opportunity to do a little advance scouting in case you face him this year. An opportunity to get some more data on a certain type of pitcher at a certain age. An opportunity to be in-facility at Cressey Sports Performance and keep working on those relationships.

That isn’t to say the Cubs might not want Scherzer; like I said, I could envision a scenario where adding him to the mix makes a lot of sense at the right price. I’m only saying that the Cubs scouting Scherzer’s session is not quite the same thing as hearing, for example, that the Cubs are actually pursuing him. It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, but if Scherzer can get a deal like fellow quadragenarian Justin Verlander got from the Giants (one-year, $15 million), I tend to doubt you’ll see the Cubs involved. We’ve had no indication that the Cubs have more than about $20 million left in the offseason budget, and that’s got to cover an impact reliever and any other ancillary moves they decide to make.