Scherzer takes another ‘step forward’ toward returning
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Just 15 days after he was diagnosed with a strained muscle behind his right shoulder that was expected to end his season, Max Scherzer threw pitches off a mound Wednesday in what he called another “step forward” in his attempt to make himself a viable option for the Rangers at some point in a potential playoff run.
Which of course leads to the next question: Uh, what series might that be?
Wild card? AL Division? ALCS? World Series?
Scherzer isn’t going there.
“If you think about the end game and start circling dates, you get emotional about getting ready,” he said. “You end up competing with the injury. And that’s the worst thing you can do. You don’t aim for anything specific. The body tells you what you can and can’t do. You show up every day and do your work.”
Scherzer didn’t give specifics about his bullpen session, saying only that intensity varied, thus making the number of pitches irrelevant. He did say that as he ramped up intensity over the outing, he became more aware of the muscle. He also went through a full postthrowing workout, as usual. He will see how he recovers on Thursday and the Rangers will take the next steps if he has no setbacks.
“The slope amplifies everything,” he said. “The big thing for me is to see how you recover. If something is taking on more stress than it should be because of [compensating for the shoulder muscle], it will show up the next day.”
Scherzer, acquired at the deadline from the New York Mets, left his start against Toronto on Sept. 12 after 5.1 scoreless innings. When an MRI showed a strain of the teres major muscle, GM Chris Young said it was “unlikely” Scherzer would pitch again in 2023, but didn’t rule out the possibility completely. The injury requires rest, not a surgical procedure, for recovery. Both José Leclerc and Corey Kluber suffered the injury for the Rangers in July 2020. Neither pitched again in that season.
Carter’s playoff status uncertain
A sure sign of playoff fever: Explaining archaic baseball roster rules.
Like this: Though MLB’S handbook specifically states that players must be on a team’s 40man roster by 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 to be eligible for a postseason roster, Evan Carter, who wasn’t added to the 40man roster until eight days later is, in fact, eligible.
How can that be? Well, the easiest way to work through all this is to understand that MLB rules were made for loopholes. The real governor is not whether the player is on the 40-man roster by Aug. 31, but if the player is in the organization.
According to the rule book: “A player who doesn’t meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team’s roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner’s Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation.”
The “petition” basically means filing paperwork. But here’s how teams manipulate the rule: Payers who are on the IL and won’t be available for a series or all of the postseason are included in a team’s playoff pool. The team then decides to replace that player with somebody who they’d like to add to the playoff pool. The one caveat is that a position player must be replaced with a position player and a pitcher with a pitcher. The Rangers currently have six players on the 10-, 15- or 60-day IL: Brett Martin, Jake Odorizzi, Ian Kennedy, Jacob degrom, Max Scherzer and Brad Miller. Miller is the only position player among that group.
In the case of Carter, the Rangers would merely file with the league that they are replacing Miller, currently on the 60-day IL, with Carter. Carter, who has become the Rangers’ regular left fielder against righthanded pitching, would then be eligible.