NO WAY This Happens...Phillies Linked to Future Hall of Famer

It has once again been a pretty quiet few weeks across the Phillies side of things of the MLB offseason, but we are getting closer and closer every day to spring training, and we did get a bit of a rumor a few days ago regarding legendary starting pitcher Max Scherzer. Yes, the Phillies are a team that is currently eyeing up Max Scherzer. Max Scherzer threw last week in front of teams at Cressy Sports Performances Pro Day earlier in the week and there were multiple teams that had scouts in attendance uh this report by uh Pat Ragazzo says the scouts were the Mets the Yankees the Dodgers the Blue Jays the Phillies the Braves the Cubs and the Red Sox he says Scherzer has been in contact with Toronto um but this is kind of an interesting look for the Phillies um because i think right now on paper obviously when you think of Max Scherzer, you don't think of anything else but a starting pitcher. I think that's probably what he thinks of himself as, but after maybe not the best last few years as he's sort of getting up there in age, maybe he's taking that into account. And it seems like that's what the Phillies are doing. Because I'm going to be honest, signing Max Scherzer as a starting pitcher wouldn't make much sense. The Phillies have Five really good starting pitchers, and six really on the way. You started off, obviously, with Zach Wheeler, your ace, your workhorse, the best pitcher in all of baseball, the guy that if you gave 30 teams the chance to pick one guy across the league to start Game 7 of the World Series, a lot of them are probably going to choose Zach Wheeler. You then have Aaron Nola, the seasoned vet of this Phillies team, the longest-tenured Philly, the workhorse of innings. The guy goes out and throws 200 innings every single year. And then you move into these sort of younger guys. You started off these last three lefties with Christopher Sanchez, a guy who sort of really emerged last year, obviously made the All-Star game, had an incredible season, but is starting to emerge as a guy that can be a third starter in your rotation. You then move on to Ranger Suarez, who I think we all know what you get from Ranger. Obviously not the best second half of the year from Ranger, and he sort of was dealing with some injuries. But I think everybody knows what you get from Ranger, especially in the postseason. Ranger, obviously a free agent after this season. The Phillies are going to have to make a decision there. And then you round it out with one of the acquisitions of the offseason in Jesús Luzardo, a young lefty who has shown nasty stuff over the years when he's healthy. And basically what the Phillies are saying is he is 100% healthy. So he is ready to go. And then last but not least, you have Andrew Painter waiting in the wings for this Phillies team so you have six once again really really good starting pitchers and I think that's sort of how the Phillies feel right now specifically Christopher Sanchez he spoke to the media the other day and he said yeah just being honest this is one of the best rotations if not the best as long as we all stay healthy we'll be one of the best and he is absolutely right but this tricky part about Max Scherzer is once again I don't think the Phillies are interested in any more starters, so there must be something here where they either say, hey, maybe Max Scherzer is thinking about maybe trying to be a reliever, you know, late in his sort of career, and obviously the velocity has dropped over the last few years, so maybe there's teams thinking that if he gets moved to the bullpen, he's not throwing as much, it's not as much wear and tear on his arm, maybe he would be more dominant, because I think we all sort of know what Max Scherzer has been throughout his career he's been an absolute dominating pitcher one of the best pitchers of our generation um most likely a first ballot hall of famer um and honestly one of the best pitchers that this this league has ever seen is a three-time Cy Young award winner uh multiple-time world series champion eight-time all-star I mean you just go down this baseball reference page it's absolutely absurd a 3.16 career ERA in 17 seasons with over two with over 2,800 innings pitched and 3,400 career strikeouts. He struck out 300 guys back in 2018 in just one season. Obviously, last year was a bit of a down year for him, but once again, he is getting up there in age. I think there's sort of starting to be some wear and tear on the arm from the starting position. Nine games last year in just 43.1 innings pitched, seven home runs allowed in 43 innings with just 40 strikeouts, a 3.95 ERA and a 1.15. But it is pretty obvious, like I said, I sort of already said this a few times, that I don't think you're going to see this prime version of Max Scherzer. Any team that signs him, sort of any team that has been in the mix, like we've said here, I don't think they're expecting prime Max Scherzer. But I think some of these teams could be thinking about if Scherzer, once again, would be willing to go to the bullpen because the Phillies still do have a hole in their bullpen. There is still one more spot, and the Phillies have sort of some room to work with as far as who is going to fill that last spot. They obviously did sign Iogi from Japan about a week back. He is sort of maybe a contender for that spot. But really right now, the Phillies are still sort of searching. Who's going to be that last guy? Who's going to be that dominant force? Is there another guy on the market that they would try and go get? Is there a guy that they would trade for like a Ryan Helsley or guys sort of like that? Where is this last bullpen spot coming from? Because right now the Phillies have an okay bullpen. I think it's above average. I don't think it's great. I still think they need one more guy. And right now they're setting themselves up once again to kind of do exactly what they did last year. They are built right now, and obviously with saving a lot of prospects this offseason, they are set up right now to probably trade for a reliever at the deadline. That sort of makes the most sense to me right now. I see them trying things early in the year with maybe some guys like Iogi down in the minors. And if it works, obviously bring them up to the pros and that sort of being your guy. But right now, it seems like to me that the Phillies will strike again at the trade deadline for a reliever if they need one. And I'm not going to lie, if you take this bullpen into the playoffs right now after losing Jeff Hoffman and probably losing Estevez, I would be a little worried. Obviously, they did add Jordan Romano. They're expecting a huge leap from Ryan Kirkerand. But there's still just a need for one more guy right now. I still think they're just a little short. Obviously, as far as the rotation, I think this is a really good rotation. Zach Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez, Jesus Luzardo. I won't say the name of the last guy because he probably won't be pitching many innings this year, unfortunately, for Taijuan Walker because he is, once again, and I've always been on the train, obviously, Taijuan Walker has been little of what the Phillies expected from him when they signed him. But it does stink for the human side of Taijuan Walker. He's a very good dude. He's one of the best teammates in the clubhouse. He simply just doesn't have it anymore on the mound. And that's just kind of the bottom line with Walker. And And then, once again, you do have Andrew Painter waiting in the wings. So, yeah, would you be in on the Phillies getting Max Scherzer? I can't believe I'm saying that. I would have to go back and delete some tweets, I'll tell you that, if he did come to the Phillies. Obviously, it does seem like the Blue Jays may be the frontrunner right now. There's no serious, serious reports about teams making actual offers. But, once again, the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Braves, Cubs and Red Sox were all in attendance for his pro day earlier in the week so once again do you guys want Max Scherzer um I I once I cannot believe I'm saying that um would you want Max Scherzer do you think he would be a fit in the bullpen and how do you think his game would sort of translate to the bullpen right now once again this has been another episode of Phillies Digest my name is Luke Arcani and I will see you guys next week