Scherzer shines, but thumb still clouds Blue Jays' plans

FORT MYERS, Fla. — If there’s a line between pain that’s manageable rather than problematic in his irksome right thumb, Max Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays are still trying to find it.

“It’s anybody's guess — I don't have the answer,” the veteran right-hander said after four shutout innings Saturday in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. “From the very beginning, in free agency, I said the only thing that's holding me back long-term here is the thumb. If you're going to sign me, everything else is good, back is good, the only issue is my thumb. I thought I had addressed it. I thought I did enough grip-strength work to nip it in the bud, that we weren't going to have it. Unfortunately, it showed back up here in spring training. 

“Everybody's trying to figure out how to manage this, how to get around this, how to overcome this. I don't have the answers,” he continued. “We're working with the doctors, working with the hand specialists, you name it. I'm trying to figure out a solution to this. And so, it's just kind of day-by-day.”

Such uncertainty is far from ideal while the Blue Jays deliberate on their final roster calls and what’s so unsettling is that Scherzer feels such uncertainty about his thumb amid such a promising performance. 

He threw 62 pitches and 47 strikes, topping out at 94.7 m.p.h. with a fastball that sat 93.3. He commanded it so well that catcher Tyler Heineman, who learned in the morning that he’d made the Opening Day roster, estimated he only missed a spot once, leading to a full-count walk for Harrison Bader. Scherzer allowed only two hits, a bloop single by Trevor Larnach to left and a beat-the-shift grounder by Jose Miranda, and he was grateful for the grind the two knocks created for him in the fourth.

“In spring training, you really want to fight through some adversity,” he explained. “You want to pitch out the stretch, have some long innings and then execute big-time pitches. Those are the kind of things you look for, how you're executing in those situations.”

An eight-pitch duel with Matt Wallner in the third and a 10-pitch battle with Byron Buxton in the fourth — both ending in strikeouts on cutters — also tested Scherzer, who got five outs on fastballs, three each on cutters and curveballs and one on a slider. A changeup to Wallner that first baseman Rainer Nunez booted in the first should have been another out.

In short, if the Blue Jays could bottle up this Scherzer outing and put it out on the mound during the regular season next week, they’d do so in a heartbeat. 

“There's a reason why he's who he is,” said Heineman.

Yet what comes next for Scherzer — and by extension Yariel Rodriguez, who’ll jump into the rotation if the thumb is a problem, pitch out of the bullpen if not; and lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who exercised an out in his minor-league deal giving the Blue Jays until Sunday at 2 p.m., when he’s slated to pitch, to either add or release him; and others in the bullpen — is somewhat tied to how his thumb feels Sunday.

“I'm not going to lie, it's frustrating, because I know I can pitch at this level,” said Scherzer. “I know I can still pitch at a very high level, as well. I know I have the pitches I can execute. I can locate. But it's a thumb issue I'm battling until I'm fully built up.”

The issue, one he’s been dealing with since the end of the 2023 season, lies between the metacarpophalangeal joint, where the thumb meets the palm, and the carpometacarpal joint, where the digit’s base meets the wrist.

Scherzer grips the ball in a way that puts pressure on the thumb and causes swelling, he explained, and “when it gets too inflamed it becomes a nerve issue. Then it starts moving up the arm and it can get into other things, even into the shoulder. So my entire arm health is predicated on this thumb.”

As a result, the 40-year-old made sure to curb everyone’s enthusiasm, including his own, describing the outing as “baby steps” while being hopeful that his thumb “gets acclimated, gets built up itself to pitch deeper into ballgames and … that I'm not dealing with this.”

HEINEMAN HITS: Tyler Heineman felt joy but also “a lot of relief” when manager John Schneider told him he’d made the club, as he’d “been pressing a little bit” with only three hits and two walks in 22 plate appearances coming into Saturday. 

“I don't want to ever assume anything,” said the 33-year-old, who’s bounced between 10 organizations in 12 pro seasons, including three stints with the Blue Jays. “I thought I had a chance for it to be my job, but I haven't been performing really in spring training the way that I felt like my work has prepared me to do.”

Freed of the stress, Heineman doubled and scored on an Alan Roden single in the first inning and another single in the third — “It’s funny how baseball works like that,” he quipped — as he gears up what he calls his first official opening day in the majors, having previously broken camp with the San Francisco Giants in 2020.

“The main question mark about me is offensive production at the big-league level,” he said. “I produced in the minor leagues, but big leagues is a different animal. Going into camp, trying to figure out when to take my shots, how to take my shots, I learned a lot about when I can do that and when I need to be who I am, be the guy who moves a guy over, hit and run, bunts a guy over, stuff like that. ... I thought I did a good job putting in the work.”

ROSTER CALLS: Along with Tyler Heineman, Davis Schneider was also told he’s breaking camp, while Gold Glove centre-fielder Daulton Varsho, still in a throwing progression as he recovers from shoulder surgery, is opening the season on the injured list.

A handful of other decisions remain before the 26-man roster is set, prime among them how the Blue Jays will cover centre in Varsho’s absence. The likeliest possibility is a platoon with Myles Straw handling the right-hand side and one of Nathan Lukes, impressive rookie Alan Roden and Steward Berroa in the mix there. Addison Barger also appears set for a bench spot after Leo Jimenez was optioned Friday.

The Blue Jays had hoped Varsho, who underwent shoulder surgery in September, could play in the outfield this week, but when that didn’t happen, the decision to start him on the IL was made.

“He's making a ton of progress with the throwing, and we have a very specific plan laid out for him to hopefully join us as quickly as he can,” said manager John Schneider. “If that looks like centre field every day, great. If it looks like it may be a couple days on and off, and he can DH, great. Love what he's doing offensively and the adjustments he's made. But just from how it how it affects everyone else on the roster right now, just really didn't make sense to keep him as a primary DH for probably a couple of weeks.”

Varsho will stay in Florida for the time being — he’ll make a quick trip up to Toronto to collect his Gold Glove on opening day — and work with Kevin Kiermaier, who is coaching the club’s outfielders after retiring at the end of last season. Eventually, he’ll get into some games at triple-A Buffalo before returning.

“We're going to try to expedite it as much as we can while he's here (in Florida)," said Schneider. "And then I think once he's gotten the outfield part on lock here, we'll get him to Buffalo. And if it's a handful of games, great. If it's five, great. But I think the overall goal is going to be some time (in April) he's back.”

RODEN ROCKS: Outfield prospect Alan Roden added two more hits and three hard-hit balls Saturday to a spring so impressive that it’s forced him into the Blue Jays’ final deliberations.

If he were a natural centre-fielder, his path to the roster would be clearer, and for him to break the Blue Jays would have to give him “fairly regular” reps between centre, left and DH. 

That may be too complicated a mix right now, but, “I do think that the talent of the player is real,” said John Schneider. “I know it's half a season in triple-A, but he's going to help us this year. I don't want to say significantly, I think that'll kind of just happen, but I do think him playing regularly is important. There is a fine line with younger-ish players where how do they handle that for the first time. Still things we're talking about. But wherever he is, we want him to play fairly regularly.”

Roden, 25, posted a .916 OPS in 71 games with Buffalo after a mid-season promotion last year, and this spring went 11-for-26 with two homers and six walks. 

Schneider cautioned about putting “too much stock in spring training — that's kind of a trap people fall into — but you don't want to ignore spring training as well, it is real,” he added. “I know I kind of just contradicted myself, but you can't ignore it. There's something to it.”

Roden isn’t yet on the 40-man roster and that may work against him out of camp with the Blue Jays also potentially needing to create 40-man spots for Ryan Yarbrough and Myles Straw.