The Toronto Blue Jays took a chance on aging legend Max Scherzer last season, which produced mixed results. The 41-year-old went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA over 17 regular-season starts but posted a 3.77 ERA over three postseason starts, including a one-run, 4 1/3-inning performance in Game 7 of the World Series. The Blue Jays lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 in 11 innings.
Scherzer may not be as consistent as he was in his prime, in which he won three Cy Young Awards, but he's still capable of a lights-out appearance on any given day. The right-hander tallied six quality starts last season, and his season ERA was inflated by a 10.20 mark in September.
Scherzer re-signed with Toronto on Thursday morning, per the New York Post's Jon Heyman. The team's starting pitching options now include him, ace Kevin Gausman, offseason acquisition Dylan Cease, late 2025 standout Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, Cody Ponce, Eric Lauer and the injured Shane Bieber (forearm).
Lauer could be the odd man out of the rotation, which he likely won't be happy about given his statement on Saturday, via MLB.com's Keegan Matheson.
“Being able to lock in mentally and physically as a starter is what’s best for me,” the 30-year-old said. “It’s what I normally do. It’s how I normally prepare. I know where I’m supposed to be at certain times. The whole bouncing back and forth thing last year kind of hurt me in the long run — not physically, but in my standing. I’d really like to perform, do what I did last year and show that I can start.”
Eric Lauer Faces Uphill Battle for Starting Spot
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Lauer has started 127 out of 148 career games and notched a 3.18 ERA in 28 appearances (15 starts) last season, but he doesn't have as strong a case for a rotation spot as most of the other aforementioned hurlers. Gausman was 11th in baseball with a 1.06 WHIP in 32 starts last year, Cease has a 3.88 ERA in 188 career starts, Scherzer hasn't come out of the bullpen in the regular season since he was a rookie in 2008, Yesavage is a 2024 first-round pick who allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his nine appearances last year, including the postseason, and Berrios has started 273 of his 275 career appearances.
The only one that Lauer looks better than on paper is Ponce, who hasn't pitched in an MLB regular-season game since 2021. However, the 31-year-old was the KBO (South Korean) League MVP last season and was unanimously awarded the Choi Dong-won Award, the KBO's Cy Young equivalent. He signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Blue Jays in December.
Manager John Schneider said on Wednesday that Ponce will be in the rotation and isn't competing for a spot, per Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith. Therefore, it's plausible to expect a six-man rotation of Gausman, Cease, Scherzer, Yesavage, Berrios and Ponce to start the season, not necessarily in that order.
Bieber is a former Cy Young winner and has started 141 of his 143 career appearances, so he's not likely to come out of the bullpen when he comes back, either. Lauer's only chance to snag a rotation spot might be an injury to another pitcher or outperforming the other options in spring training.