Not a bad way to kick your week off, eh Max?

The contract he signed on Monday was the second-highest for a starting pitcher in baseball history, behind Clayton Kershaw’s 7 year, $215 million dollar Dodger deal. I don’t care about the fact that it’s really not $210 million when you take inflation into account…that’s a whole f*** ton of dough. The guy is going to be getting $15 million dollars a year from the Nationals until 2028.

Buster Olney had the Nationals at the very top of his list of best rotations in the bigs a week ago, before they signed the 2013 AL Cy Young winner. On paper this is probably the best rotation we’ve seen since the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hames & Roy Oswalt). Even if they do end up dealing either Stephen Strasburg or Jordan Zimmermann like they’ve been rumored to be trying to do, they’re gonna be a really unenjoyable bunch to hit against.

Believe it or not, the Indians have had some decent success against Scherzer in the past three years. He’s 5-1 with a 4.06 ERA and a .243 BAA against the featherheads since 2012. Not bad at all, but not up to his recent standards. And he’s one of those guys who can rip off a complete game shutout on any given night. Plus he beats up on the rest of the division. Good riddance! – The AL Central.

How does this affect the market for James Shields? Probably not that much. Shields older so he was never going to sniff the 7 year deal Scherzer got. The consensus seems to still be a 4 year deal worth around $70-$80 mil. There have been some whispers that the Indians have a deal on the table for Big Game James. Would it be cool? Of course. But I’m happy with where our rotation is now, and I don’t know if the anti-Swisher/Bourn-contract fans could handle another big deal for someone on the wrong side of 30.

PS That list of top rotations from Buster Olney? Indians at 10. He also did a top ten for bullpens and lineups. Indians at 10 and 9 respectively. But what does he know?