How worried should the Mets be about Max Scherzer?

Max Scherzer is a huge cog in the Mets’ potential success to the 2023 season, so how worries should the club and fans be after two ugly starts?

New York Mets ace Max Scherzer’s Opening Day start was far from pristine but it got the job done. He went 6.0 innings with three earned runs allowed on four hits (one homer) and two walks with six strikeouts against the Marlins. But again, he got the win, which is what matters.

The hope was that the 38-year-old simply needed to shake off some early rust before he could get into Cy Young-caliber form.

That rust must be ridiculously thick, at least that appears to be the case after Tuesday night’s start against the Brewers.

Scherzer got completely shellacked in Milwaukee, giving up five runs over 5.1 innings with eight hits, two walks and three home runs allowed (all in one inning before he was yanked) while striking out only two batters. The Mets went on to lose 9-0.

So with his ERA now sitting at an uncomfortable 6.35, with a WHIP of 1.41 and with hitters getting hard contact consistently off him, the question must be asked: Is there cause for concern with Max Scherzer?

It’s easy to overreact if you’re a Mets fan and the high-priced team has lost the last two games in Milwaukee by a combined 19-0 while Justin Verlander immediately went on IL and now Scherzer has struggled to start the year. But it’s not an overreaction to be at least a bit worried.

At 38 years old, the two biggest concerns for Scherzer coming into the year were health and the potential for age-related decline. He appears healthy right now, but the performance is where the questions come into play.

Through two starts, he’s given up eight earned runs over 11.1 innings. Last season, it took Scherzer five starts and 31 innings pitched to hit that mark. He’s also already given up four home runs, which it also took him five games to do last season. And his two strikeouts on Tuesday were fewer than he had in quite literally any game in the 2022 season for the Mets.

And if that weren’t all worrisome enough, there appears to be a reason the Brewers pasted him on Tuesday. Looking at his release point for pitch types, Scherzer seemed to be clearly tipping his pitches with where his arm was coming from, which has been an issue for him at times.

While it is only two games and while there is a lot of baseball left to play, there is at least a bit of a reason to be worried about Max Scherzer. This isn’t a sound-every-siren in New York type of emergency by any means because of the small sample size but, for a Mets team with big hopes for this season, it’s a situation to monitor extremely closely.