Is Tigers ace pitcher Max Scherzer overplaying his hand in the free agent market?
Hard to say.
But Jon Heyman CBS Sports reports from Phoenix, where baseball's general managers are meeting, that Scherzer's name is not being bandied about as a must-have player.
Heyman writes:
Max Scherzer is almost universally considered the top player on the free-agent market, yet his name is hardly being heard around the lobby here. And if it is at all, it is to wonder whether Scherzer and agent Scott Boras made the right call to turn down the $144-million, six-year spring offer by the Tigers.
Curiously, not only has no one from a team has come forward to suggest they are making a play for Scherzer, nobody is even whispering the name of one of baseball's top pitchers. And that last part is undeniable, even if you don't happen to have your hands on Boras' gloss Max Scherzer book, which illuminates attention-grabbing data, from the more obvious note that Scherzer leads the majors in wins (55) and strikeouts (723) over the past three seasons to much more esoteric stuff.
Boras is playing down the lack of talk in Phoenix.
"Premium free agents are rarely talked about at the GM meetings," Boras said. "This is an owners' decision. Every GM wants him. There's always a place for him on every team. The issue is not whether the player is wanted. The issue is whether the owner will make the commitment to try to win the World Series."
