This has been a challenging season for , who has been limited to eight starts. Back surgery and a thumb injury kept the three-time Cy Young winner from making his season debut until the middle of June. He has been back on the injured list for the last two weeks because of shoulder fatigue. The defending World Series winners have plummeted 11 games below .500 with a terrible month of August. Unsurprisingly, it doesnt seem Scherzer is comfortable with this season as a swan song. The eight-time All-Star told reporters that he expects to continue playing in 2025 ( ). When Im out there, Ive been able to compete , Scherzer noted. I can still pitch at a high level. I look at things like my slider, which I went into the season wanting to fix, and its been really good. I still see myself as able to compete and win. Scherzer, who turned 40 in July, has been the fourth-oldest player in the majors this season. Two-time teammate , , and are older. Scherzer neverthele s remains capable of performing well when healthy. He has turned in a 3.89 ERA with a solid 24.1% strikeout percentage and an excellent 5.1% walk rate acro s 39 1/3 innings. Those arent vintage Scherzer numbers, yet its still quality mid-rotation production. Thats despite him pitching at what appears to be le s than full strength. His velocity was down a tick relative to last season, which could be attributable to the Pau Gasol Jersey various injuries through which he has battled. An injury-plagued year is going to raise more concern for a player of Scherzers age. Still, this will be the first season (excluding the shortened schedule) in which he hasnt reached 145 innings since his 2008 rookie year. While he battled injuries during last years postseason and was eventually pulled from the World Series roster, he still combined for 162 1/3 innings between the Mets and Rangers in the regular season and playoffs. Texas is all but officially buried in the playoff race this year, but Scherzer came out of a bullpen se sion without i sue today and looks to be on track for a return from the injured list relatively shortly. He could make another six or seven starts to finish the season. Scherzer seems set on continuing his Hall of Fame career for an 18th year. Theres neverthele s uncertainty about where hell be playing. Hes in the final season of the three-year, $130MM free agent contract which he signed with New York in 2021. Hell return to the open market during the upcoming offseason. Scherzer certainly isnt going to match the three-year term or record-setting $43.333MM average annual value of his current contract, but he should still command a strong one-year deal. Players like , and all landed guarantees between $13MM and $16MM as rebound candidates last offseason. Scherzer is much older than that trio but hes had a more accomplished career and has the ability to turn in an ace-caliber year. A deal in the $15-20MM range on a high-payroll club with legitimate World Series aspirations could be viable. That might be Texas, though theyll need to make other moves in the rotation and strengthen the bottom part of the lineup if theyre to make a renewed push to contend. Mario Hezonja Jersey