ARLINGTON — All things considered, it was an appropriate way for Max Scherzer’s season to end.
On the IL. Discussing another injury.
Nine starts. Just 43 innings. Three stints on the IL. Only two wins. Talk about the kind of season a guy would like to flush.
“Yeah, I’d say that’s a very fair way to characterize how I’m describing it right now,” Scherzer said Sunday, a day after the Rangers placed him on the IL with a left hamstring strain, ending his season. “Just would like to [flush] everything.
“But I still believe I can pitch at a high level here. There’s nothing stopping me from doing that. My body hasn’t fully cooperated this year, but if I can properly address everything that’s been going on with a full offseason, I think I can be better for it next year.”
It just likely won’t be for the Rangers. Scherzer, 40, is a free agent after the season. While he intends to pitch next year and the Rangers could use more starting pitching, the Rangers probably need more reliability than Scherzer, even with his Hall of Fame credentials, can provide.
In fact, Sunday may have been his last appearance in the Rangers’ clubhouse. Scherzer acknowledged he would not make the final road trip of the season to Oakland and Anaheim. He and his wife will return to South Florida to get their kids back in school.
Scherzer, who has 216 wins and is 11th on the all-time strikeout list at 3,407, said he would welcome a return to the Rangers. But he also acknowledged that after two trips through free agency, returns are infrequent when a player gets to market.
“Obviously I’d like to come back here,” Scherzer said. “We have won a World Series here. We get along great. We have a great clubhouse. But I’ve been through free agency two other times in my career and I get how this goes. I’ve seen how things go, and I’m realistic about it. So you’ve just got to let that take care of itself.”
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