Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals reportedly agree to seven-year contract

One of the best rotations in baseball just got significantly better.

The Washington Nationals have agreed to a seven-year contract with marquee free agent Max Scherzer, according to multiple reports early Monday morning. The 30-year-old right-hander won the American League Cy Young award in 2013 and is considered one of the league’s most reliable and dominant starting pitchers.

CBSSports.com was first to report the deal, which has yet to be confirmed by the team. 

The terms of Scherzer’s contract with the Nationals were not immediately known Monday morning, but FoxSports.com reported it will exceed $180 million. Scherzer reportedly turned down a seven-year, $160 million contract extension with the Detroit Tigers before last season.

Should the Nationals decide to stand pat, their 2015 rotation would feature Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez. Zimmermann and Fister are scheduled to become free agents following the 2015 season, while Strasburg will hit the market in 2016.

Scherzer had been linked to the Nationals for much of the offseason, despite the team’s surplus of starting pitching both in the majors and the minor leagues. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was the vice president of scouting in Arizona when the Diamondbacks drafted Scherzer with the 11th overall pick in 2006. Scherzer’s agent, Scott Boras, also represents Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon and Strasburg, among others.

Boras has previously negotiated with a team’s owners rather than its general manager when working to complete a deal, and it’s possible that was the case with Scherzer. In a group interview with reporters at the winter meetings last month, Boras characterized Scherzer’s deal as an ownership decision.

“These types of contracts are ownership decisions,” he said. “They affect whether a team is a championship-caliber team, they affect attendance, they affect media rights, they affect the value of the franchise.”

Scherzer has gone 91-50 in seven major league seasons, including two in Arizona and the past five in Detroit. Last year, he finished 18-5 with a 3.15 earned-run average.