Under The Knife 7/31/23
The Deadline Edition
Forget an intro, just go read this great Travis Sawchik article over at The Score. I played Sherpa for him as we visited Dr. Tim Kremchek’s awesome facility outside Cincinnati. Sawchik details the ins and outs of MRI in modern sports, including his first visit inside the tube. (I don’t think he really believed it when Doc asked if he wanted to have one. The cost alone …) Just a knocked-it-out-of-the-park article that really captured that day in Cincy. I have an article I’m working on that will detail what I think will replace the MRI in the next decade. That’s a teaser, so let’s get to the injuries:
MAX SCHERZER, SP TEX (no injury)
It cost the Rangers $22m and Luisangel Acuna - yes, younger brother - to get Max Scherzer. Don’t think of him as Jacob deGrom, Part II, because he’s not that any more. A bit more durable, a few more questions about what’s left at age-39 (and age-40 with the option locked.) Had Scherzer been the Max Scherzer we’re used to seeing, he wouldn’t have been dealt from the Mets. Now, he’s a Ranger, this year and next, likely never overlapping with the rehabbing deGrom, himself a former Met.
Rating this trade comes down to whether Scherzer rights the ship and is a playoff pitcher again, and we won’t know for years whether Acuna becomes anything like his brother. He’s not as far off as some might think and becomes a likely second base partner for Francisco Lindor. Whether Scherzer meshes with Mike Maddux and the Rangers pitching system remains to be seen, but there’s certainly questions to answer.
Scherzer hasn’t been great this year, but he’s been pitching well of late. Scott Lewis had the line “the Rangers didn’t trade for the pitcher the Mets signed” and he’s dead on. They get Scherzer to be the #3 for less than a qualifying offer. The neck issue that held him up, plus the recurrent oblique issues from ‘22 haven’t recurred this year. Scherzer has his own maintenance program, so that shouldn’t be a huge add-on for the Rangers medical staff.
NATHAN EOVALDI, SP TEX (strained forearm)