This weekend marked the third time in Max Scherzer’s career that the future Hall of Famer has been traded — twice in the last 24 months, as well as once way back in 2009. Here’s a quick look at each of those three trades and how some of those prospects worked out (or didn’t) for the clubs that sent Scherzer on his way.
The first trade: Dec. 8, 2009
Tigers receive Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth
Diamondbacks receive Ian Kennedy and Edwin Jackson
This was a three-team deal that also included the Yankees, who received Curtis Granderson from Detroit, sent Kennedy to Arizona, and dealt Phil Coke and Austin Jackson to the Tigers. Kennedy is the only other player from the trade who is still active, although he’s in Triple A at the moment. Schlereth, Coke and Austin Jackson were all prospects at the time, with Jackson the best of the three. He also had the best career, generating 22.1 rWAR across nine years in the majors, nearly all of that coming for the Tigers in his first four years in the majors.
Yankees-Tigers-DBacks three-way at impasse. Yankees would get Granderson, DBacks EJax, Tigers Scherzer with young players to all three teams
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2009
At the time of the deal, Scherzer had just a year and a half in the majors, posting a 3.86 ERA in 226 innings, good for 2.5 WAR. The Diamondbacks somehow ended up with only Kennedy (7.2 WAR in four years with Arizona) and the forever-tempting Edwin Jackson (0.1 WAR in 21 starts for Arizona, and then traded to the White Sox for Daniel Hudson and another prospect). Scherzer had issues with command and a delivery that got more violent in 2007, walking 40 guys in 73.2 innings in Double A, but by the time he reached the majors in April 2008, he’d cleaned it up enough to cut that walk rate and resemble a long-term starter again. In five years with the Tigers, he was worth 21.4 rWAR and won a Cy Young Award before leaving as a free agent. Detroit ended up with the two most valuable players in the entire deal, just going by what those players produced for their new clubs.
The second trade: July 30, 2021
Dodgers receive Scherzer and Trea Turner
Nationals receive Josiah Gray, Keibert Ruiz, Gerardo Carrillo and Donovan Casey
Ruiz and Gray were top 100 prospects at the time of this deal, and Gray has been worth 3.2 WAR already this year, establishing himself as an above-average starter and probably enough to justify the trade by himself. Ruiz has played regularly but has seen no uptick in his contact quality, at least not yet, and he’s 25 already so time is starting to run out on his odds of a real improvement. He’s an exceptional hitter for contact, which should keep him in the majors for a long time, but he has to get to some more power, even just more doubles power, to hold up his end of the bargain. Carrillo throws very hard but has thrown just 25 innings since the start of 2022, only two innings so far this year, due to injuries; while Casey was a 25-year-old organizational player at the time of the deal and hasn’t hit at all since joining the Nats’ system.
The third trade: July 29, 2023
Rangers receive Scherzer and some Scrooge McDuck money
Mets receive Luisangel Acuña
You can see my full breakdown of this trade from when it happened, but Acuña is at least in the top four prospects ever traded for Scherzer, probably behind Gray, Austin Jackson and Ruiz, given how those players projected at the times of their deals. This is the lightest return of the three, but that’s only natural given Scherzer’s age and some signs of decline. In the first trade he offered five years of team control at suppressed salaries, and in the second trade he was at the peak of his powers and bundled with an elite position player in Turner.
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
#Law #Max #Scherzer #traded #times #team #return
