Report: Insurance Policy Made It Easier For Scherzer To Decline Detroit's $144 Million Offer
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - When starting pitcher Max Scherzer turned down a reported six-year, $144 million offer from the Detroit Tigers before the 2014 season, he made sure he was covered in case something happened before he hit free agency, where he believed he would receive an even more lucrative offer than the one Detroit presented him.
Scherzer told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports that he paid $750,000 for a policy that would pay him $40 million tax-free if any injury prevented him from getting offers higher than the one the Tigers made.
"I was going to have enough money for the rest of my life regardless of what was going to happen," Scherzer told Rosenthal. "Once you took the injury-risk factor out of it, and you can just go play baseball and not have to worry about anything . . . I was set. When you combine that with the fact that I've already made some money in my career, you're talking $50-plus million in the bank, I think I'm going to be fine."
After his fantastic 2013 season, Scherzer turned in a season nearly as good in 2014, and in free agency he signed a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals.
Between 2013 and 2014, Scherzer recorded a 3.02 ERA in 434 2/3 innings over 65 starts. He recorded 492 strikeouts in those two seasons, and his record over that span was 39-8.
