“I don’t blame the Dodgers” for the arm problems

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Amid what was still a three-team race for the National Western League title and facing a pressing need for starting shots, the Los Angeles Dodgers closed a successful trade to acquire Max Scherzer and Trea. Turner on the deadline this year.

He came with the understanding that Scherzer could potentially be considered a mere hire due to the final year of his contract. However, it was believed early on that the Dodgers and Scherzer would seek a new deal as a free agency.

The exchange immediately paid off for LA as the future Hall of Famer began a historic streak that kept them on the heels of the San Francisco Giants.

Scherzer and the Dodgers ultimately failed in the playoffs, and his time with the team is now perhaps best known for the right-hander who failed to pitch in the National League championship series.

After signing a record deal with the New York Mets, Scherzer hinted that the Dodgers’ pitching plans were behind his back dead man and a feeling he was “overcooked.” However, the 37-year-old has now made it clear he has no intention of blaming the organization, according to Jorge Castillo of the LA Times.

I don’t blame the Dodgers, Scherzer said. Maybe I wasn’t clear enough about what I was really talking about.

Despite pitching 110 shots in seven innings in Game 2 of the National League Divisional Series, Scherzer has declared himself available to throw in relief on just two days off. The Dodgers ended up using it to close Game 5 win-win at Oracle Park.

While this propelled the team into the NL Championship Series, it also marked the start of disaster for Scherzer. He battled the Atlanta Braves and revealed he suffered from right arm fatigue after pitching just 4.1 innings in Game 2.

Scherzer was due to start Game 6 but still hadn’t recovered from his arm problems and was scratched. He planned to start Game 7 if the Dodgers had managed to avoid elimination.

Scherzer: the Dodgers reduced their “capacity”

When he previously touched on how the playoffs unfolded, Scherzer explained his belief that the Dodgers’ approach to managing their pitching staff ultimately had a negative effect.

“How I reflect on this Game 5 and how I was used, my conversations with Doc and Friedman, I had done in 2019 during the World Series race,” Scherzer said at his press conference at introduction with the Mets.

“I started the Wild Card Game, made a cameo in relief, made a few more starts and was able to do it. I thought I was in the same position to be able to do it in 2021. Thinking about it, in Washington I was asked to throw over five days and throw 100-110 throws consistently.

“I was stepped on all the time and I loved it. I was designed for a much higher working capacity in DC. So when I was asked to do it, I felt like my arm could respond to that. Rightly so, with the Dodgers there was a major concern to protect Walker and Julio’s innings, and I support that 100%.

“We made the decision to give extra days on a consistent basis and monitor our pitch count for the playoffs. I just feel like it reduced my working capacity, so when I tried to do the 2019 formula so that I could get out of the pen my arm couldn’t respond to that because I was coming from ‘a lower number of steps, per se.

“That’s why I wasn’t hurt. That’s why I didn’t hurt myself, but I was definitely compromised trying to perform what I did in 2019. You learn something new every time. I never asked a manager for the ball and I hurt myself like that or I couldn’t make my next start. It just never happened to me in all my years of pitching.

“You can ask all of my managers. If I tell you I can go, I can go. It was the first time I had come across something where I really thought I could do something and it just didn’t show up. It took me a while to search through this and find out what happened, what was the difference, why was I able to execute the 2019 playoff plan? And that’s what I got to.

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