Max Scherzer is honest; it was about the money

Max Scherzer recently signed a mega-deal that seems to make the Washington Nationals frontrunners to win the 2015 World Series (they’re 11/2 odds on Bovada to win the whole damn thing). While we’re not ready to say they’ll win it – that seems too damn easy and any time it appears that way in sports it’s simply a mirage – there’s no doubting they’re a better club in 2015 than they were in 2014.

Scherzer opened up in an interview with MLB.com today on why he signed with Washington:

“It’s the business part of the game. The business part of the game is ugly. I mean, look at it from the other side. I’ve seen so many of my friends get cut and released and all taken advantage of because at the end of the day, we say it’s the business part of the game. I just took advantage of the business side of the game to benefit me.”

It’s alright, Maxxy. The game takes a piece of you at the professional level you can never have back. From the owners, to the agents, to the fact your right shoulder is going to sound like shit when you rotate it when you’re 50; you deserve your cut and you reserve the right to get the most you can when you’re eligible to do so. I stopped faulting players long ago for taking the biggest offer they can get from whatever suitor tables it.

I still respect the guys who are willing to sign for less to stay with the girl that brought them to the dance their whole career, but I don’t fault Scherzer and it’s actually refreshing for a guy to come out and say ‘hey look, I did it for the money’.

The Nats will still prove the age-old adage that you can’t buy a championship in this game and sometimes when that type of money gets thrown around and other guys are due for a similar payday in the not-so-far future (cough, Strasburg and Harper), egos will take a hit. Everyone is concerned with if they’re going to get theirs. They’ll still lose to a lesser team with a lesser payroll and not as talented of a roster in October because that team is hotter and wants it a little more than the assembled squad of hired guns.

The Nats aren’t winning this shit in 2015, okay? No matter how cool it would be.