What brought Scherzer to Toronto? 'I’m playing to win'

TORONTO -- Max Scherzer isn’t coming to Toronto because he likes Tim Hortons.

Scherzer is 40 now, on the doorstep of his 18th MLB season after signing a one-year, $15.5 million deal with the Blue Jays. He’s seen it all, done it all and won it all. Now, he wants to do it again.

“I’m not just playing to play. I’m playing to win,” Scherzer said Friday. “I really feel like Toronto offered that.”

Scherzer was drawn to the Blue Jays’ “all-in position,” leaning on former teammate Chris Bassitt and assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense, who Scherzer played NCAA ball with at the University of Missouri and has remained close with since. When the money made sense, the geography made sense and Scherzer believed the Blue Jays had a shot to surprise some people this season, it all came together.

“I love to win. Winning cures everything,” Scherzer said. “All you need to do to wake up in the morning is have that drive to win, then the rest takes care of itself. I still feel like I can pitch at a high level, compete at a high level and be part of a championship-caliber team. That’s so much fun.”

Coming off a season that was anything but fun, the Blue Jays still have plenty of work to do to make Scherzer’s vision come true. This club is still one more bat away from truly taking its offense to the next level and is banking on a bounce-back season from Bo Bichette to be part of that. Life in the AL East can be downright brutal at times, and the Blue Jays have learned -- in 2020, ‘22 and ‘23 -- how quick and cruel the postseason can be when you sneak in as a Wild Card team.

If Scherzer can give the Blue Jays a healthy season, though, that’s another step in the right direction, one that follows other positive steps from adding Jeff Hoffman, Yimi García, Andrés Giménez and Anthony Santander. An offseason that once felt slow and underwhelming has come around quickly.

The rotation Scherzer joins is fascinating, now led by four veterans who have hauled major innings in the big leagues. This group can’t just support the roster, it needs to be at the front, pulling the Blue Jays forward.

“The backbone of any team is always the starting rotation. It doesn’t matter how much offense you’ve got,” Scherzer said. “If you don’t have a strong starting staff, you’re always going to be in trouble if you don’t have starters going out there eating innings. On the Blue Jays, you’ve got a staff here now that can eat some innings with [Kevin] Gausman, Bassitt, [José] Berríos and now [Bowden] Francis coming up, seeing what he can do as well.”

The depth is impressive, too, which we haven’t been able to say in years. The Scherzer signing likely bumps Yariel Rodríguez into a swingman role, but this is a good problem for the Blue Jays to have.

“Yariel will come in stretched out and compete for that fifth spot,” GM Ross Atkins said. “He’ll remain depth for us, and we’ll make a decision about halfway or three-quarters of the way through Spring Training to try to put our pieces in the best positions to be successful.”

Atkins was quick to mention Jake Bloss, who would be the No. 7 starter if you wrote out a list today, along with left-handed pitching prospect Adam Macko, who should start in Triple-A. Then there’s Eric Lauer, Adam Kloffenstein and the potential that one of Alek Manoah or Ricky Tiedemann return from their elbow surgeries later this summer.

The Blue Jays’ starting five looks very sturdy right now, but the organization can weather a storm or two.

This really works if Scherzer can stay healthy, which doesn’t exactly get easier as a pitcher ages. The three-time Cy Young Award winner says that he’s right on schedule, though, with his throwing sessions and training. It’s an encouraging start, and if the Blue Jays can point to one strength as an organization, it’s their ability to keep veteran starters healthy. Pitching coach Pete Walker and the club’s training staff are great mechanics, mileage be damned.

It all starts next week. Pitchers and catchers hold their first workout next Thursday and Scherzer will be right there, one of this generation’s most decorated pitchers and a likely Hall of Famer trying to take one more run at the only thing he seems to care about right now: winning.