Scott Boras claims Tigers rejected contract offer, not Max Scherzer

The Detroit Tigers and Max Scherzer's agent Scott Boras have reached an impasse. Both parties are making their complaints known to the media, each side essentially saying the other is lying when it comes to the end of Scherzer's contract negotiations.

Speaking with ESPN's Jerry Crasnik, Boras disputed the Tigers' announcement which claimed it was Scherzer who turned down what GM Dave Dombrowski termed a "substantial, long-term contract extension."

Scott Boras tells http://t.co/p7zjENvM6c that #tigers rejected Scherzer's offer, not the other way around. More to come.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) March 23, 2014

In Boras' version of events, he alleges it was the Tigers who stopped bargaining after turning down Scherzer's offer of a contract extension.

Via ESPN news services:

"Max Scherzer made a substantial long-term contract extension offer to the Detroit Tigers that would have placed him among the highest-paid pitchers in baseball, and the offer was rejected by Detroit,'' Boras said. "Max is very happy with the city of Detroit, the fans and his teammates, and we will continue negotiating witth the Tigers at season's end.''

ESPN's Jayson Stark is reporting industry sources tell him the Tigers' offer to Scherzer was only slightly lower than the $25.7 million per year Justin Verlander agreed to in a contract extension negotiated last season.

Even though the contract size wouldn't have equaled Verlander's, the Tigers' offer would have made Scherzer one of the six highest paid pitchers in baseball. A deal of such magnitude would work out to approximately $24 million a season, in the same range as the Phillies' Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw remains the highest paid pitcher in the game at $30.7 million a year.

So whom should we believe, Scott Boras or the Detroit Tigers?