Blue Jays add 41-year-old Max Scherzer to an already loaded starting rotation

Mad Max is back with the Toronto Blue Jays. Reports came in late Wednesday night / early Thursday morning (Feb. 25/26) that the Blue Jays had reached an agreement with the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer. Scherzer spent last season with the Blue Jays and started Game 7 of the World Series, in the Blue Jays' loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Following that gut wrenching loss, Scherzer was quoted as saying that he felt like he hadn't thrown his final pitch in the big leagues, but his market was slow moving throughout the winter and it didn't appear as if a ton of teams had legitimate interest in bringing Scherzer into the fold.

But after the Blue Jays have spent the majority of the offseason adding to their pitching depth, they decided that one more arm couldn't hurt. The question remains, where exactly does Scherzer fit into the Blue Jays' plans for 2026?

Blue Jays add 41-year-old Max Scherzer to an already loaded starting rotation

MLB reporter for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal, wrote that the deal is for one-year with a base salary of $3 million but it includes $10 million in incentives. Those incentives start at 65 innings pitched and last year, Scherzer reached 85 innings pitched, despite being hurt three innings into the season and not joining the rotation full-time until the end of June.

That might be preview to this rotation puzzle. Scherzer will need some time now to get into game shape. We're not too far into the Spring Training season, but he his starting behind everyone else in terms of ramping up for the season. So even if Scherzer isn't ready to go right at the beginning of the year, there will likely be opportunity once the season gets rolling for Scherzer to join the rotation.

The Blue Jays are already about six pitchers deep in terms of guys who could conceivably be in the starting rotation this season. Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman are locks. Trey Yesavage and José Berrios are also on the inside track. Cody Ponce and Eric Lauer are currently competing to make the rotation as well, but either guy could also be slotted into a bullpen role.

Meantime, Shane Bieber is also starting his ramp up late, after experiencing some fatigue after last years postseason run, which was his first year coming off Tommy John surgery. However, manager John Schneider did indicate that Bieber is now throwing off flat ground and progressing well.

So where exactly is Scherzer going to fit in with this already loaded group? The answer could be in helping them with the "load management" aspect of some of the guys in this current makeup. Earlier this week, Schneider indicated that the Blue Jays are going to be cautious about how many innings Yesavage pitches this season. Last year, he threw 139.2 innings in his first year of professional baseball. Schneider said it is unlikely he goes from that number to 200 innings. So this could be a case of getting 65 selective innings out of Scherzer in the middle of the year to give some guys a breather.

The Blue Jays will also have to make room for Scherzer on the 40-man roster, which could cost another player their job, however, the Blue Jays do have some wiggle room as they can move pitcher Jake Bloss and outfielder Anthony Santander to the 60-day IL to free up that space without losing a player.

Regardless of how things roll out, Scherzer being back in the clubhouse should be a bonus as he was one of the key cogs in building the locker room "vibes" that brought the team together and helped give them that off-field comradery that led to on-field success. Scherzer is also 37 innings shy of getting to 3,000 innings - another counting stat to add to his Hall of Fame resume.