Tigers rumors: Max Scherzer won’t discuss contract extension during season

Super agent Scott Boras said Monday that his All-Star client won’t discuss staying in Motown until the fall -- at the earliest.

by Nate A

Jul 16, 2013, 3:10 PM UTC

USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer has had as good a first half as any starting pitcher could hope to have, but don't look for him to use that start as leverage in discussing a contract extension at any point in the near future. Uber-agent Scott Boras said yesterday that if Scherzer discusses a contract discussion with the Tigers, it will not happen until the fall , reports Jason Beck of MLB.com.

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Boras iterated that he has been in touch with Detroit GM Dave Dombrowski recently, but that Scherzer’s contract did not come up:

“Dave and I usually do things like that in the offseason,” Boras said. “I talked to Dave a few days ago about a number of things, but contract things we take care of in the offseason.”

Scherzer is off to easily the best start in his six-year big-league career. The right-hander jumped out to a 13-0 start -- the first pitcher to accomplish that feat since Roger Clemens did it back in 1986 -- before finally taking a loss to the Rangers over the weekend. Scherzer owns a 3.19 earned-run average and career-best 4.90 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 129⅔ innings on the season.

The 28-year-old is still over a year away from free agency, so Detroit has some time to figure it all out. However, considering how well things are going for him so far this season -- not to mention that he’s already making $6.725 million in salary -- the Tigers could look to keeping him on long-term this winter so they can avoid giving him the massive raise he’ll likely seek in his final year of arbitration.

Detroit already has two starting pitchers -- Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez -- signed to long-term deals. Whether they end up adding Scherzer to that list likely depends on what their plans are for the handful of impact players -- e.g. Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Doug Fister -- that are scheduled to hit the free-agent market following the 2015 season.