OT- Max Scherzer rejects Tigers' extension
Max Scherzer is taking a gamble on himself to reproduce or upstage his 2013 Cy Young season by rejecting a long term offer from the Tigers. It would appear Dombrowski's offer was more than fair considering Max would have paid among the top 6 pitchers in baseball.
Thoughts on this? Honestly it's a bit surprising that Dombrowski offered that much, and it's even more surprising the Scherzer rejected said offer. I suppose this could be Boras being Boras, but honestly that seems like a huge gamble for Max or he doesn't enjoy Detroit nearly as much as he puts out there.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/03/tigers-scherzer-done-talking-extension-for-season-.html
EDIT: updated to show the figures.
Source: Tigers’ offer to Max Scherzer was six years, $144 million. That was what Cole Hamels signed for in 2012. @FOXSportsLive
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 23, 2014March 23rd, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
Incredibly stupid on Scherzer's part.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:57 PM ^
It's a gamble he's taking because he has confidence in himself. You don't get to that level without it. And just what is he gambling? It's not his financial security. It's money that would take several lifetimes to spend.
He's essentially gambling that he'll be able to reproduce what was by far the best season of his career, and if he doesn't, he stands to lose a lot more than whatever boost he's hoping to get with another team.
He doesn't have to duplicate last season or bust. If he has a good season, he'll get very good offers. If he duplicates last season, he'll make a lot more. If he regresses, he'll get less, but it will still be more money than he can spend. In each case he gets a lot of choice of where to live. We don't know everything that's important to Scherzer. Apparently locking up some extra guaranteed money isn't at the top of his list.
That's fair. It could be something other than money. But since Boras is his agent, I'm assuming this choice was made based on money.
175 million in hand is worth 200 million in the bush. Dumber than hell.
He did recently get married...
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
That's not necessarily true, there were talks that Fister was looking to go back West after his contract expired, ala Brad Stuart.
Wait wrong Washington you say?? Well we tried
He's only under contract for 1 year in Washington, he could still go West after that?
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
That Fister trade is still a head scratcher. I am willing to give Dombrowski a benefit of the doubt since some of the clowns hes shipped out have tanked. But man you always need pitching. Especially now that Rondon is out.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
The rational for the Fister trade was having enough money to resign Scherzer. That should have been done *before* we traded Fister.
As much as I'd hate to see it, this team is going to decline this year. They'll probably still be good enough to win the division but that's not a given. Not drinking the "speed and defense" Koolaid. Our pitching and hitting are both weaker.
Other than some fans speculating, that is. Fister didn't have a particularly big contract.
The rumor was that Garcia was sleeping with Prince's wife.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^
That tells us that this is our window right here. 2014 or bust.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
It's a negotiation. Why take the first offer? He has some leverage, after all. They'll work it out, since both want him in Detroit.
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:45 PM ^
*ducks*
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:47 PM ^
So what ailment do all Cleveland teams have then?
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:50 PM ^
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
Out of the 20 MLB stadiums I have been to, Comerica Park is in the bottom half.
I should say that Dumbrowski is half to blame as well
You lose any and all credibility you might have had by calling him Dumbrowski.
There are so many things wrong with this it's ridiculous.
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In no way shape or form was Jim Leyland pushed aside for Brad Ausmus, this is in fact a terrible summation of what transpired.
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I will certainly grant you that Illitch wasn't the greatest owner prior to 2005, but he's been arguably the best owner since that year with his ability to overpay to get the talent here to lay the foundation for a contender.
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Comerica is a bottom tier ballpark? This is news to me and probably most baseball fans as it's located in a nice area downtown with plenty to do outside and inside the park. For furthur proof http://espn.go.com/page2/s/ballparks/comerica.html, honestly I enjoy most of the 12 of so parks i've visited but Comerica isn't a "shitty stadium" and your bias against it and the Tigers are very real.
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"Dumbrowski" how cute of you to criticize the man that revitalized a dying baseball franchise, and fututre commissioner of the MLB.
In summation GTFO troll.
You are way off. I have been to every active ballpark except for the new Yankee Stadium and I can tell you Comerica is easily top 10 in comfort and gameday atmosphere and probably closer to top 5.
March 24th, 2014 at 11:17 AM ^
I've been to every active sports venue (arena, stadium, plaza, public park) in the entire world, and I must say that Comerica Park trends toward the mean in terms of overall enjoyability, as noted by the Financial Times newspaper.
March 24th, 2014 at 12:02 AM ^
Sigh :(
March 23rd, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
Chris Iott's article delves into the history of the negotiations a little bit - HERE
I found this somewhat interesting:
Dombrowski said the Tigers told Boras during the winter meetings that they were interested in making an offer to Scherzer and approached the subject again during the pre-arbitration process. But Dombrowski said Scherzer and Boras at that time wanted to focus on getting the one-year deal completed.
It sort of makes me curious to know precisely what the terms of Dombrowski's offer were, if they are indeed made available. As he says in this article, it was a personal record for him in terms of the largest contract he's had anyone turn down. It also notes that they put their top offer on the table only about a week before the March 20th deadline set for these negotiations.
Some guys just want to experience the free agent market once in their career. Who wouldnt want to be able to shop themselves to a few different employers at once and get multiple 7 figure offers?? He may end up back in Detroit after all is said and done, but he is gambling on himself for one year to make more money.
I've always thought in this scenario that if you take less money than you could possibly get, you endear yourself to fans, take pressure off yourself to otherwise live up to a huge salary, and that these things would be more than worth the money you would be giving up.
The pro equivalent is "I really can't spend all that money anyway, how about you save some of that and build a team around me instead." I don't begrudge a guy who holds out for more money. But if I found myself in that situation, I THINK I'd be cool taking a higher-than-reasonable salary to begin with. But, also to be fair, I'm not a total badass at anything. So I don't know how badasses think.
that guy is bad ju-ju. would love to keep scherzer, but with that guy it makes it very difficult. he is a cancer.
It's the market. You can't blame a player for wanting to be paid among the highest at their position.
Unproven manager, weakened pitching staff and lineup, mediocre farm system... things not looking good in Tigertown.
I think this is a fair assesment but there's also a caveat that the Tigers are constructed better to win in the postseason, they obviously have to get there first though.
Basically agree but "unproven manager" is certainly not one of the reasons why.
That is a hell of a lot of money guaranteed. Hard to see how he gets a LOT more than this even if he repeats last year. Which seems unlikely. Lots more stuff could happen this year that cost him a big chunk of that.