“I drank a lot,” Max Scherzer said when asked how he celebrated the lockout coming to an end.
Baseball is back in full swing with players reporting to major league camp and the free agent and trade markets heating up. With all the lockout commotion, it’s almost easy to forget that Scherzer is a Met now, and that very soon he will be forming a lethal one-two punch with the best pitcher in the world, Jacob deGrom.
“He’s the reason I’m here,” Scherzer said of deGrom. “I want to be here and pitch with great pitchers and he’s obviously one of them.”
Scherzer is already getting settled in with his new team. One benefit of all the lockout negotiations was that he got to spend an unexpectedly high amount of time with other players, particularly new teammates Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo.
“I got to know Lindor and Nimmo a lot better throughout this whole process,” Scherzer said. “Getting to hear their voices and their thoughts, they really brought some good stuff to the table, and pushed guys in how they wanted to think.”
Like the fans, Scherzer still isn’t quite used to the fact that he’s a Met.
“It’s a little weird coming into the parking lot and going to the home side,” Scherzer said. “But that’s what you gotta do. You come in here and you get acclimated with everybody, certainly know everybody’s names, the trainers’ names; just get familiar with the complex.”
As camp rolls up, Scherzer is pushing the lockout behind him and not dwelling on any of the delays or the changes made to baseball. He said he’s been able to get some live bullpen sessions in and is hoping to reach 100 pitches before opening day.
“We can talk about the pros and cons at a later time,” Scherzer said. “We’ve gotta realize we’ve got baseball back. The fans want to hear us talk about baseball. I’m out here getting ready for the season.”
