Looking back at Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer signing…

WASHINGTON – Late on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 15, 2015, the Washington Nationals shocked the baseball world.

A franchise steeped in beginning pitching solely added to that embarrassment of riches – by signing Max Scherzer to a seven-year deal value $210 million {dollars}.

The free-agent signing allowed Scherzer to make the transfer from the Detroit Tigers to Washington.

And the deal got here in a winter that the Nationals had been attempting to resolve what to do with beginning pitcher Jordan Zimmermann and shortstop Ian Desmond, each of whom had been drafted and developed by the franchise (Desmond was drafted by Montreal).

Photograph by Jim McIsaac/Getty Pictures

Because it seems, Zimmermann and Desmond performed that one 12 months – 2015 – with Scherzer after which grew to become free brokers.

In a twist, Zimmermann ended his Main League profession final 12 months with the Tigers.

Scherzer greater than earned his preserve in his profession in Washington, though some referred to as his signing the worst of the low season previous to the 2015 marketing campaign.

“[T]he Nats not solely added an infinite expertise however in addition they gave themselves an unimaginable, virtually bewildering assortment of variations to stay glorious sooner or later,” Thomas Boswell of The Washington Submit wrote after the Nats landed the ace.

“Scherzer is an excellent pitcher who has 492 strikeouts in his previous 434 2/3 innings, and maybe he’ll be the man who pushes the Nationals to a spot they haven’t gone earlier than, the World Series,” Buster Olney of ESPN wrote after the signing.

“That’s the reason Washington probably will line up Scherzer, Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister, and Gio Gonzalez and go for it. Yep, Gio Gonzalez as a No. 5 starter,” Joel Sherman of The New York Submit wrote.

Photograph by John McDonnell/The Washington Submit by way of Getty Pictures

The appropriate-hander from St. Louis threw two no-hitters in the identical season, 2015, whereas in Washington and captured the Cy Younger Award in 2016 and 2017.

He was a part of the employees that led the Nationals to their first World Collection title, in 2019.

Scherzer, after all, has simply signed one other free agent deal – this time one for 3 years as he begins his profession with the New York Mets in 2022.

His tenure with the Nationals led to late July when he was dealt, together with shortstop Trea Turner, to the Los Angeles Dodgers.