The Rangers announced that right-hander Max Scherzer has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder fatigue. Left-hander Walter Pennington was recalled in a corresponding move.
It’s been a challenging season for Scherzer, who just celebrated his 40th birthday last week. He underwent back surgery in the offseason and initially hoped to return some time in the middle to the end of May, but then he was delayed by some nerve irritation in his thumb and didn’t make his season debut until June 23.
He has since made eight starts for the club but questions surrounding his health popped up recently. He only lasted two innings on July 20 and later told the media he was experiencing arm fatigue, with Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News among those to relay the message along on X. He felt good enough to make his next start on July 25, tossing six innings against the White Sox. But on July 30, he only lasted four innings and 68 pitches against the Cardinals with manager Bruce Bochy relaying that arm fatigue was again present, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News on X.
All year long, it has seemed like the Rangers would have a rotation that would get gradually healthier over the course of the year. Scherzer was coming back from his back surgery while Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle were lined up to join the mix in the second half of the season after recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery. The reigning World Series champions were hoping to ride a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Michael Lorenzen, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford until that trio returned.
That was sort of going according to plan when Scherzer returned back in June but has kind of gone off the rails since. Dunning was on the IL for most of July due to shoulder soreness and recently returned in a relief role. Bradford missed a few months due to a low back strain but, like Dunning, returned recently in a relief role. Gray hit the IL due to a groin strain last week. The club felt good enough about the rotation depth to trade Lorenzen to the Royals for Pennington prior to the deadline.
With Scherzer now out of the mix, the healthy rotation is down to Heaney and Eovaldi. Bochy says Mahle could be back and start on Tuesday, per McFarland on X. José Ureña has been oscillating between the rotation and bullpen this year and is starting tonight’s game. Tomorrow’s starter is still listed as TBD with Eovaldi scheduled for Sunday. Perhaps Dunning or Bradford will have to take the lead tomorrow as part of a bullpen game.
All together, it’s a less than ideal situation as they try to cobble a rotation together for the next few weeks. The club is 52-57 and eight games back in the Wild Card picture. Some struggles from the Mariners and Astros mean that the Rangers are only 4.5 games away from the West division lead but they would have to catch both clubs in order to nab that spot. Doing so with a patchwork rotation for the next weeks will be tricky. The trade deadline has now passed, limiting the options for finding external help.
It’s also less than ideal for Scherzer personally, as he is heading towards free agency at the end of this season. Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post hinted on X tonight that the veteran righty is uncertain how much longer he can keep pushing his body to its limits. Perhaps he would consider retiring after this season, which would be understandable given his age and this mounting ailments. But he also has a reputation as a fierce competitor so it’s anybody’s guess as to when he’ll decide to hang up his cleats. In either case, he’ll undoubtedly be doing everything he can to get over his arm issues and find a way back on the mound in the coming months.
Nuschler
Oh Maxie, you’re gettin’ old.
Joe says...
Father Time is undefeated.
Clofreesz
Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, and Jamie Moyer did put up quite a fight, though!
So did Satchel Paige!
Floyd Rayford's cat
Julio Franco too
Datashark
Lets honor Minnie Minoso too
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
And Otis Nixon !
Phil's Os fan
Bartalo colon enters your list.
padam
Phil Niekro would like to join in.
ayrbhoy
Don’t forget about Justin Turner! Who turned back the clock with his grand slam on his T-Mobile debut last night.
mlb fan
@Joe/Clofreesz..”Father Time is undefeated…Nolan Ryan..put up quite a fight”…Word on the street is that “Father Time” didn’t actually “defeat” Nolan Ryan, but after 44+ years he and Father time mutually agreed to call it a draw.
rememberthecoop
Nice.
vtadave
Getting?
vaderzim
I really don’t want this to be the end for Scherzer, but the increased frequency of injury might say otherwise.
Big whiffa
Ya never know ! I thought verlander was done back in the 80s
raisinsss
Bartolo still going at 50!
Dogbone
Minnie Minoso.
VLP
I have right shoulder fatigue, got some left lower back fatigue and aech of my foot fatigue too
Acoss1331
Max has maxed out. That’s okay, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer with nothing to prove.
meckert
Agree. Problem is that many of the greats refuse to admit it when they’re done.
SocoComfort
For love of the game. Also an underrated baseball movie
10centBeerNight
Sounds like the end
ayrbhoy
“Beautiful friend the end….”
corrosive23
Usually, he waits till the postseason to run out of gas
yeasties
burn
UncommonSense
He’s no rich hill
CardsFan57
Over $350 million earned. Automatic first ballot HOF. He has nothing to prove. It’s time to retire. There’s not going to be another big payday.
desertbull
Retire
mlbnyyfan
I’m still pleasantly surprised the Rangers won last year without Max and DeGrom. What’s been the problem this year?
slcamp
Pitching has actually been solid this year. Their bats belong on a missing poster….
ayrbhoy
Their bats along with so many other bats across MLB this year. The difference in OPS from last yr to this year for players like Matt Olson, J Rodriguez, P Goldschmidt etc is honestly …..baffling!
Blue Baron
“…when he’ll decide to hang up his cleats.”
Ultimately, it may not be his decision.
mlb fan
“Mad Max” is essentially getting paid $40M/yr to rehab, whirlpool, rub down and “ramp up” constantly for yet another minor league rehab assignment.
Blue Baron
A salary freely and willingly offered and paid. The risk is inherent in all player contracts.
Astros_fan_in_Aus
As an Astros fan, my competitive self is happy to hear Max might be out, but as a baseball fan, I never like to hear that champions of the game like Scherzer, Cole and Verlander are missing from the game.
Hopefully, he gets through this and finishes off the season with a bang.
Flanster
It’s over, Johnny, it’s over!!!
kingmanscorner
Meh
Frankhowardlives
Might be the end
Os&nattybohs
It’s father time. Great career. Hang it up.
PutPeteinthehall
Goose about cooked. At least they got something out of him. deGrom is another story.
raisinsss
Is he going to strasburg them?
sufferforsnakes
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
raisinsss
Scherzer and Verlander throwing 40-50 innings of 4 ERA baseball this season.
Mets were a disaster, but they sold high.
Rsox
I’m not sorry the Sox will miss Scherzer this weekend. Also not looking forward to Eovaldi on sunday.
ayrbhoy
Seattle fan here- I was seriously impressed with your Red Sox, they have quickly become a formidable team. Despite not having your 1B!!
Your surprisingly good SP1-SP3 and THAT lineup with Duran at the top, Ceddane Rafaela batting 9th, Devers, O’Niell and the impressive AB’s from Wilyer Abreu in between…. I would hate to pitch at Fenway in Oct against that lineup!
Gentlemanbob
Phil Niekro was my favorite “father time” HOF pitcher. Knucksie pitched 24 seasons and over 5,000 innings in MLB until he was almost 50. What a joy it was to see him pitch and watch MLB hitters wave at his pitches.
raisinsss
I wish Dickey could have kept it going. It felt like he was a guy who could compete til 50… until he wasn’t.
GarryHarris
The Yankees of the 80s always had at least one and usually more 40 ish pitchers on their staffs: Jim Kaat, Gaylord Perry, Joe Niekro, Phil Niekro, Luis Tiant, Tommy John, Rudy May….
Mercenary.Freddie.Freeman
Time to retire Max.
Windowpane
He’s about done.
ayeah
He just needs to retire.
TellItGoodbye
$43,333,334 for 39 innings. Such a great deal!
TellItGoodbye
Although not as spectacular as deGrom’s $40,000,000 for zero IP. That’s definitely the best deal in history.
dlj0527
Over 3,000 K’s and over 200 wins in just under 20 seasons, I’d say he has nothing left to chase except another World Series ring at this point, should retire before he gets another injury.