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Reigning Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer may not be with the Detroit Tigers longer than the 2014 season. The Tigers have announced Sunday that the organization and Scherzer could not come to an agreement on a contract extension for the right-hander and that there will be no in-season negotiations. This essentially ensures that Scherzer will become a free agent after the season.
According to MLB.com’s Jason Beck, President and general manager of the Tigers, Dave Dombrowski made a statement early Sunday morning regarding the offer made by the team saying,
It was a very substantial offer that would place him among the highest paid pitchers in the game.
Scherzer and his agent, Scott Boras, declined the offer and once it was declined the parties decided to end talks for the spring. With the possibility of in-season negotiations already ruled out this means that Scherzer, who is entering his contract year with the Tigers, will be the one of the top free agents on the market barring a substantial drop in production this season. With the enormous contracts given to free agent pitchers in recent years and Scherzer being only one year off of winning the AL Cy Young Award the implications are that teams will not only be very interested in Scherzer,but would easily be able to make him the highest paid pitcher to date. Currently, that position is being held by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Clayton Kershaw who signed a seven-year $215 million contract extension with the Dodgers earlier this year.
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