If Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer ever needs an agent, he can always turn to his 8-year-old daughter, Brooke.
As he told reporters gathered at spring training in Florida, his children were writing letters to Santa Claus in December when Brooke got it in her head to reach out to the Blue Jays. Specifically, Brooke wanted to share her hopes of seeing her free-agent father return to the Blue Jays in 2026.
Her wish came true last week as the 41-year-old hurler agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal to return to the defending American League champions.
‘It’s the cutest thing you can possibly imagine when you read that, how much it meant to her to be in Toronto,’ Scherzer said.
Scherzer said his kids were writing letters expressing what they wanted from Santa when Brooke approached him and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer. The 8-year-old asked for a stamp and then put it on a sealed envelope that she handed to her parents.
After Brooke went to bed, her parents opened the letter to see what she had written.
Scherzer celebrates with daughters Brooke and Kacey after a playoff win with LA in 2021
Signed ‘Max Scherzer daughter,’ the letter shares Brooke’s hopes to return to Toronto
‘Dear Blue Jays,’ began the note, which Erica shared online. ‘I am so sorry that you didn’t win the World Series. I hope that you win next time. I hope my dad is back on the team. My whole family loves spending time in Toronto with our dad. We loved the aquarium, the [CN] Tower and of course the stadium. I am looking forward to come back next season. Love, Max Scherzer daughter.’
Scherzer noted he and his wife didn’t send the letter to the Blue Jays. As he explained, that would be a ‘bad negotiating tactic.’
Scherzer, too, wanted to return to Toronto after the Blue Jays came so close to winning the World Series last season. The Blue Jays led in the ninth inning of Game 7 before falling 5-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th.
‘Obviously we came as close as you possibly can to winning the whole thing – something you can never get over, forget or anything of that nature,’ said Scherzer, who won World Series rings with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. ‘That was a huge reason why I wanted to come back. This team can win. I wanted to be a part of it.’
Scherzer said he’s right on schedule for the start of the season after dealing with a thumb injury for much of last year.
Scherzer didn’t send the letter to the Jays because that would be a ‘bad negotiating tactic’
‘I feel healthy,’ Scherzer said.
Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 regular-season starts last year. He also was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series with Seattle and made two starts in the World Series.
He wanted to return to Toronto but understood the uncertainty that comes with being a free agent. His deal with the Jays includes $10 million in available performance bonuses for innings.
‘Free agency is a weird animal,’ Scherzer said. ‘I’ve been through it many times. You think it’s going to go one way and it goes another way. I kind of knew not to get my hopes up, but like I said, I was going to be picky about where I went.
‘I wasn’t just going to sign with anybody. There was only a couple of teams I’d sign with at this point in time, and obviously Toronto was one of them.’