DUNEDIN, Fla. — The 40-year-old arm of Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer appears to be just fine.
But the 40-year-old thumb? Not so much.
The thumb pain that kept him out of his previously scheduled spring training start is now trending towards a more serious lingering concern for the celebrated off-season acquisition, as he detailed following an outing in a simulated game on Monday.
While cautioning that he won’t know more until Tuesday when he fully recovers from the work and gets more tests from the Jays medical staff, Scherzer wasn’t exactly bursting with optimism.
“My thumb hurts,” said Scherzer, who signed a one-year $15.5-million US contract with the Jays. “It just hurts to grip the ball. But the more critical thing here is what I’ve learned over the years here is that your thumb is absolutely critical to your arm health.”
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Scherzer suggested that his status essentially is day-to-day, but clearly seemed concerned that there are similar signs of a resumption of the injury that sidelined him all of last season.
“The danger of pitching on this is that you could sustain a shoulder injury,” Scherzer said. “It hasn’t manifested to nerve pain yet, but that’s why I was working with hand specialists and doctors and the trainers (to see) how we can move forward and not have this blow up into something worse.”
For most of his session on Monday, where he faced a group of primarily minor-league hitters on Field 2 at the Jays player development complex, Scherzer seemed fine. His work was kept to 47 pitches, which is near the number where pain starts to creep in.
The Jays were hopeful that Scherzer would be able to get enough work in to near readiness before the season. That now seems in jeopardy.
Scherzer acknowledged that the thumb issue has become a source of frustration as well as pain.
“Last year I did a bunch of grip strength work, thumb work, to try to address this, and thinking that that was going to be a resolution,” Scherzer said. “But to see it this flare up at the exact kind of 50-pitch mark again, kind of tells me it’s not a grip strength issue.
“So we’re working with the doctors to advise how we’re going to work through this. We’re just trying to play this day-by-day.”
As for what a potential Scherzer setback does for the Jays rotation, there are options. Yuriel Rodriguez, who has been viewed as a candidate for the bullpen, has remained stretched out and could slide in as a potential fifth starter if Scherzer can’t make it.
“Unfortunately, this is what I’ve been dealing with since 2023,” Scherzer said.