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Max Scherzer reveals details of injury insurance policy
After turning down a six-year, $144 million extension from the Detroit Tigers last March, many wondered if Max Scherzer was taking a gamble that could backfire terribly if he went down to an injury or just simply lost his way ahead of free agency. As it turned out, injury was never once a concern for Scherzer, because not long after rejecting the deal, he took out a massive insurance policy that would reportedly cover lost potential earnings.
We first learned of Scherzer's insurance plan last June, though at that time no details were provided. However, on Saturday, Scherzer finally shed some light on the security the policy gave him before he signed a monstrous seven-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals in January.
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Courtesy of Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal:
The policy, Scherzer said, would have provided him with $40 million tax-free if he suffered any type of injury that prevented him from receiving an offer below the Tigers' original $144 million proposal. Scherzer was covered if he injured his shoulder. He was covered if he required Tommy John surgery on his elbow. He was covered for every possible injury under a policy that he said cost him $750,000.
No wonder Scherzer was so calm.
Of course, he was never in any danger of landing on the disabled list or hurting his stock as the 2014 season progressed anyway. Instead, he further cemented his status as an elite hurler with remarkable durability. The later trait especially only served to make him more appealing on the market, and the man who led the charge to draft him in Arizona, now Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo, was all in.
"If I’m not mistaken, he’s never been on the Disabled List in the past five years," Rizzo said.
"He takes the ball whenever he’s given it — he’s a horse. He’s got the makeup and character to take things deep into games, if asked to. For a 30-year-old pitcher, he’s thrown very [few] innings and pitches for a pitcher that’s had the success he’s had at the age that he’s at. I feel like we’ve got a young 30-year-old arm with a lot of mileage left on the tires and a guy that’s going to take us into competitive games for a very long time."
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Scherzer says the peace of mind the insurance policy gave him and the protection it gave his family made focusing on baseball much easier. That, too, went a long way toward fueling a season that nearly matched his Cy Young performance in 2013.
"I was going to have enough money for the rest of my life regardless of what was going to happen. 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."
Yeah, we think he'll survive. Of course, fans of the Nationals aren't too concerned about insurance policies and financial planning. They want results, and though the Nationals are currently viewed as World Series favorites, there's no protection from falling short on expectations.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
