The Toronto Blue Jays provided the latest injury update on veteran starting pitcher Max Scherzer, who has been on the IL since April 27.
The Blue Jays placed Scherzer on the IL due to right forearm tendinitis and left ankle inflammation on April 27, retroactive to April 25. The hope at the beginning was that he would miss the minimum of 15 days on the IL, but it appears that he will be on the injured list for a bit longer, as the team has not activated him yet, as he’s still not feeling 100%.
Blue Jays Provide Injury Update for Max Scherzer
On Monday, the Blue Jays provided the latest injury update on Scherzer ahead of their series at home against the Tampa Bay Rays. According to Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider, Scherzer had a cortisone shot in his right thumb, which is the second cortisone shot he’s received in a week after having one in his forearm last week.
“Max Scherzer, who last week had a cortisone shot in his forearm, is also getting a cortisone shot in his right thumb. ‘I don’t think it’s flaring up, per se, it’s kind of still there,’ said John Schneider. Since ‘he’s down right now, maybe try to kill two birds with one stone,’” Toronto Blue Jays reporter Shi Davidi wrote on X.
What’s Next for Max Scherzer?
The Blue Jays are still hoping that Scherzer can make a comeback and return to the team’s starting rotation. After all, there is a reason why the team re-signed him to a one-year, $3 million contract with incentives during the offseason after he starred for the team in last year’s World Series. Although Scherzer is 41 years old, he showed last year during the playoffs that he still had something left in the tank, and the team decided to bring him back as depth for their starting rotation.
This season, even when he was healthy, Scherzer has not performed well, to say the least. He is 1-3 with a shockingly bad 9.64 ERA and a -0.8 bWAR. Given that Scherzer is a three-time Cy Young Award winner, a two-time World Series champion, and a sure-fire baseball Hall of Famer when he’s done with his career, it’s been hard to see him pitch so poorly this season.
The Blue Jays are likely hoping that it was injuries that led to Scherzer’s poor performance so far this season, and that after he returns from the IL, he will return to the pitcher everyone knows he can be.
But given he is 41 years old and just doesn’t look like the old “Mad Max” anymore, it could very well be that Scherzer is essentially done as a major-league caliber starting pitcher. Hopefully, the cortisone shots help him out, and he can make a return to the team in short order and get back into their starting rotation. But if these injuries continue to linger, we could have seen Scherzer already pitch for the last time in a Blue Jays uniform, finishing just one strikeout short of 3,500 for his legendary MLB career.
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