DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Max Scherzer says the note his daughter composed asking the Toronto Blue Jays to re-sign the three-time Cy Young Award winner arose as his kids were writing letters to Santa Claus in December.

After Scherzer agreed last week to a $3 million, one-year contract to return to the Blue Jays, his wife posted on Instagram the handwritten note from their 8-year-old daughter, Brooke.

“It’s the cutest thing you can possibly imagine when you read that, how much it meant to her to be in Toronto,” Scherzer told reporters Tuesday after his deal was finalized.

Scherzer said his kids were writing letters expressing what they wanted from Santa when Brooke approached him and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer. The 8-year-old asked for a stamp and then put it on a sealed envelope that she handed to her parents.

After Brooke went to bed, her parents opened the letter to see what she had written.

“Dear Blue Jays,” the note began, “I am so sorry that you didn’t win the World Series. I hope that you win next time. I hope my dad is back on the team. My whole family loves spending time in Toronto with our dad. We loved the aquarium, the (CN) Tower and of course the stadium. I am looking forward to come back next season. Love, Max Scherzer daughter."

Scherzer noted he and his wife didn’t send the letter to the Blue Jays.

“That’s a bad negotiating tactic,” Scherzer said with a laugh.

Scherzer, 41, wanted to return to Toronto after the Blue Jays came so close to winning the World Series last season. The Blue Jays led in the ninth inning of Game 7 before falling 5-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th.

“Obviously we came as close as you possibly can to winning the whole thing - something you can never get over, forget or anything of that nature,” said Scherzer, who won World Series rings with Washington in 2019 and Texas in 2023. “That was a huge reason why I wanted to come back. This team can win. I wanted to be a part of it.”

Scherzer said he’s right on schedule for the start of the season after dealing with a thumb injury for much of last year.

“I feel healthy,” Scherzer said.

Scherzer went 5-5 with a 5.19 ERA in 17 regular-season starts last year. He also was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the AL Championship Series with Seattle and made two starts in the World Series.

He wanted to return to Toronto but understood the uncertainty that comes with being a free agent. His deal with the Jays includes $10 million in available performance bonuses for innings,

“Free agency is a weird animal,” Scherzer said. “I’ve been through it many times. You think it’s going to go one way and it goes another way. I kind of knew not to get my hopes up, but like I said, I was going to be picky about where I went. I wasn’t just going to sign with anybody. There was only a couple of teams I’d sign with at this point in time, and obviously Toronto was one of them.”

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