Boston will be looking to fortify its rotation from top to bottom
A three-time Cy Young winner has shut down retirement rumors, making him an upcoming free agent whom the Boston Red Sox could snag.
If the Red Sox have learned anything this season, it’s that they need a much-improved pitching rotation in 2025. Rebuilding Boston’s staff won’t be a one-player fix for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow; he should be looking to add multiple arms for use as front, middle, and back-end starters.
One starter that Breslow should call about is future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who has announced that he is not retiring, according to a report from Bleacher Report’s Paul Kasabian.
Scherzer turns 41 next July, but the Red Sox are clearly believers in the “age is just a number” adage when it comes to pitchers, as evidenced by Boston’s recent signing of 44-year-old Rich Hill.
And what of Scherzer’s recent unfortunate string of injuries? It’s not ideal, but then again, the last time Boston moved on from an aging pitcher bitten by the injury bug, that player (named Chris Sale) turned into a leading Cy Young candidate the following season for another team.“Injuries have hindered Scherzer over the past three years,” Kasabian said. “But when healthy, Scherzer has been one of the game's best pitchers over the past decade-plus. For his career, he's 216-112 with a 3.16 ERA (1.08 WHIP) and 10.6 K/9 rate. He's posted a respectable stat line in 2024, going 2-4 with a 3.89 ERA (1.09 WHIP) and 8.7 K/9 rate.”
Scherzer has lately addressed his health in the media, indicating that he can still contribute at the highest level.
“When I've been out there competing, I still feel I can pitch at a high level. There are still things I can do with the baseball that I can pitch at a high level with,” Scherzer said, per Kasabian.
“My shoulder, my arm for the most part, feels really good. I was trying basically to do spring training in the middle of the season. Never done that before. ... I guess I was kind of flying blind and trying to understand what I can and can't do. And, you know, my arm got a little overextended in that process. And so like, OK, learn from it and move on, and build back up and let's get ready to go.”
Acquiring Scherzer would be a low-risk, high-reward move for Breslow and the Red Sox. At worst, Scherzer’s body doesn’t hold up and he becomes a valuable clubhouse mentor to Boston’s younger pitchers like Brayan Bello.
At best, Scherzer stays healthy and provides a dozen or so quality starts through the year, showing brief flashes along the way of what has made him an all-time great.
