The defending National League East division champs just got stronger as according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Washington Nationals and free agent pitcher Max Scherzer have reached an agreement on a seven-year deal.
Then, a little bit after midnight, William Ladson of MLB.com confirmed Heyman’s report. Also in this deal, there were draft picks involved as according to MLB Pipeline, with the Nationals signing the 2013 Cy Young award winner they are forfeiting the no. 27 in the 2015 draft, while the Detroit Tigers get the no. 35 pick.
This is a huge pickup for the Nationals as they currently believe they can contend for a World Series crown and as we saw in this past season’s Fall Classic, if you have a dominant pitcher it can take you far. Scherzer has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the last two seasons.
Over the last two seasons, he has a 39-8 record with 3.02 ERA and 434 2/3 innings pitched. In the 2013 season, where he won the AL Cy Young, Scherzer had a 21-3 record with 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts.
The addition of Scherzer should make the Nationals rotation stronger as he joins the likes of Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister.
Washington looks like they can be a contender for many years to come in the NL East, which is bad news for the Philadelphia Phillies.
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