George Sipple, John Lowe

USA TODAY Sports

Detroit Tigers' Max Scherzer said Sports Illustrated's cover story on him wasn't what he expected.

"To be on the cover is a very special moment, but I'm also frustrated that they chose to put the contract stuff on the cover," he said Sunday.

"When they approached us, (Tigers media relations) and I, we specifically asked not to make the story around the contract. ... They assured us it wasn't going to be like that. They chose a different route, and we felt like we were lied to and misled."

The cover headline was "Mad Max's $144 million bet" and asked "did he make a dumb wager on his future?"

"I didn't want it to be about that," Scherzer said. "I'm a baseball player. I want to talk baseball. It's frustrating when you get lied to about that."

Scherzer said he did not personally make his wishes known to SI but worked through the Tigers' media relations.

Stephen Cannella, SI assistant managing editor, said Monday he knew of Scherzer's feelings but no promises were made.

"I'm sorry he's upset," Cannella said. "We like Max Scherzer. We think he's a terrific pitcher and we think, as we made very clear in that story — our writer, Albert Chen, thought he was a very intelligent and smart guy and we went to great lengths in that story to talk about what a smart and cerebral guy he is. We say right there on the cover, in addition to having a Cy Young arm he has a beautiful mind.

"We were aware Max didn't want to discuss his contract situation in detail, but at no time did we make any promises how we would mention it in the story or how we wouldn't, or where we would use it, whether it would be on the cover or whether it wouldn't."

Sipple, Lowe write for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett affiliate