The New York Yankees have finally entered the Max Scherzer bidding war.
Scherzer, 30, is on the market seeking a contract in excess of $200 million for six to seven seasons.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner did not rule out a signing of the right hander according to the New York Daily News while speaking to reporters on Wednesday but did express some concern over the teams payroll.
“It’s not over until it’s over. We still have a full month before Spring Training,” Steinbrenner told a group of reporters as the first day of this week’s quarterly Owners Meetings got underway. “We’re always going to continue to improve. I’m not putting a cap on it. We’ve certainly filled some holes that we had. We’ll keep going for the next few weeks.”
The American League’s 2013 Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer is coming off a 2014 season in which he went 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.
After an offseason in which teams declined their interest in Scherzer his market is finally showing signs of life with the St. Louis Cardinals and his former team, the Detroit Tigers, also expressing interest in him.
The signing of Scherzer would allow the Yankees to firmly place Chris Capuano into a swing man role rather than have him compete for the teams fifth rotation spot this spring. Capuano was re-signed earlier this offseason after appearing in 40 games – 12 starts – for the Yankees and Red Sox last season finishing with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP.
Pitchers such as James Shields are waiting for Scherzer to sign so that their market develops.
