New York Yankees’ Interest In Max Scherzer On The Rise?

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman won’t rule out the possibility the team might move to attempt to sign Detroit Tigers free-agent hurler Max Scherzer.

“We legitimately have to walk through and consider all avenues and some might be more realistic than others,” Cashman told ESPN. “Again, there are certain things that could impact us and we can change our course of action for something we weren’t necessarily pursuing earlier. We are open to evaluating the market as it evolves and how our efforts evolve as well.”

Scherzer, Jon Lester and James Shield rate as the top three pitching free-agents of the off season and with the Yankees saddled with an unstable rotation of CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda and Ivan Nova, all recuperating from injuries, their interest could be high in any of the potential aces.

“The next 10 days, the dynamic of San Diego, the winter meetings, it sequesters everyone in and it is the industry’s way of saying, ‘God damn it, make a decision,'” Cashman said.

Particularly for the Yankees’ purposes, Scherzer is widely considered the best long-term investment for the team, given his youth and durability. The 30-year-old Scherzer went 18-5 last season with a 3.15 ERA. By comparison, the 30-year-old Lester went 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA between stops in Oakland and Boston and the 33-year-old Shields had a 14-8 mark for the Kansas City Royals.

Scherzer’s best big-league season came with the Tigers in 2013 when he went an AL Cy Young Award Winning 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts. Scherzer has posted double-figures in wins in each of his last five seasons, averaging slightly over 16 wins per season over that time.

The Yankees also recently acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius from the Arizona Diamondback and the 24-year-old slick fielder is widely viewed as the retiring Derek Jeter’s long-time replacement.