BOSTON \u2014 Friday afternoon at Fenway Park, Max Scherzer walked in from right field and found some shade in the visiting dugout.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had just completed a pre-game bullpen session, building on a recent triple-A rehab start in which he struck out seven over five scoreless innings. When two reporters asked for a few minutes of his time, he wasn\u2019t surprised. Still wearing his full road-grey uniform, he sat down and answered questions about how he feels physically and how he approaches the upcoming trade deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in a good spot throwing the ball,\u201d he told Sportsnet and The Athletic. \u201cThe ball\u2019s coming out of my hand the way it needs to. So I\u2019m looking to pitch here, in the big leagues.\u201d\u2028<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old last pitched in the majors on June 10, but his thumb responded well to cortisone injections and he now feels much improved physically and ready to make his next appearance at the MLB level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can feel it coming out of my hand, and that feels right,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I can pitch. I know I can still go out there and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitching for the Buffalo Bisons Wednesday, Scherzer threw 56 pitches, which sets him up for approximately 70 next time with a standard progression. While nothing has been finalized, the Blue Jays are encouraged with Scherzer\u2019s progression and haven\u2019t ruled out using him in their upcoming series against the right-hander\u2019s longtime team, the Washington Nationals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could,\u201d said manager John Schneider. \u201cNot trying to force Max back before he’s ready, but he felt good after the (triple-A) start. Hopefully he feels good tomorrow. We\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having pitched just 22 big-league innings this season, Scherzer’s highly motivated to make his way back and contribute. At the same time, he doesn\u2019t dwell on the time missed. He says he\u2019s simply focused on doing what he can to return.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s frustrating for sure,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I’ve been so frustrated that it’s pointless to keep harping on it, you know? For me, it’s just stay positive, get back out there, have another shot, go out there and compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with that, there\u2019s a bigger picture question about Scherzer\u2019s future. The Blue Jays arrived at Fenway Park nine games under .500 amidst plenty of discussion about how they\u2019ll approach the upcoming trade deadline. Scherzer has a no-trade clause, allowing him to control his own destiny, but it\u2019s possible he could draw interest and create an interesting decision for the front office.<\/p>\n
As this information was presented to Scherzer he started smiling and shaking his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just not going to answer your question,\u201d he said. \u201cOur job is to come here, show up and win the ballgame. We need to go 1-0 today. If the front office makes a decision on our season and there’s a conversation we have then I’ll gladly answer those questions. However I need to answer those questions, I’ll answer at that time. But until that happens, our job is to be here living day by day, trying to win every single ball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way Scherzer sees it, there\u2019s always something distracting big-leaguers from the moment they arrive at the MLB level to the moment they leave it. As a rookie, it\u2019s time to prove yourself. Midway through your career, there are chances to earn a big contract. At every point along the way, there\u2019s pressure to win.<\/p>\n
Pushing those distractions to the side is necessary every step of the way, he said. That applied last year, when the Blue Jays reached the World Series. And it applies here, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now it\u2019s no different,\u201d Scherzer said. \u201cYou don’t just get to run between the lines and go \u2018oh, we’re just playing baseball.\u2019 You have to go out there and you have to win. If you don’t win at this level, you’re gone. Hey,\u00a0we sign up for that and we love it. We\u00a0don’t want it any other way. I’m not complaining about that one bit, but that’s just the reality. We live it.<\/p>\n
\u2029\u201cAnd so, that’s our challenge. Having to address other external factors, it’s pointless.\u201d\u2029<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 Friday afternoon at Fenway Park, Max Scherzer walked in from right field and found some shade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-824246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}