SAN FRANCISCO, CA: After a physical, Justin Verlander and the Giants have agreed to a one-year contract. According to reports, ISE Baseball's client Verlander is promised $15MM. San Francisco will host the eventual Hall of Famer's age-42 season. In the past, Verlander has expressed his desire to continue pitching until he is 45.
He would undoubtedly return on a one-year contract at some point. In Houston, it never seemed likely to go on. After spending the first half of 2023 with the Mets, Verlander enjoyed a successful run with the Astros. However, he just finished a difficult season, thus Houston decided to let him depart.
Verlander pitched 90 1/3 innings with a 5.48 earned run average while taking the ball 17 times. He was placed on the disabled list twice: once in April due to shoulder irritation and again in June and August for a neck problem. After he recovered from the latter injury, opponents tagged him with an ERA above 8.00 throughout his seven starts. After the season, Verlander acknowledged that he had returned too soon while attempting to help Houston make a run for the playoffs.
With a healthy offseason, San Francisco thinks there's more in the tank. Verlander just had a stellar season the year before. In 2023, he pitched 162 1/3 innings for New York and Houston, accumulating a 3.22 ERA. With a strikeout rate of 21.5%, that was far lower than Verlander's previous level. Even if that indicated a reversal from his Cy Young form, he still had a lot of success that year with less successful swing-and-miss material.
A 42-year-old pitcher's health is a clear concern. Verlander has already surprised expectations once, winning his third Cy Young in 2022 at the age of 39 after recovering from Tommy John surgery. He might be useful as a mid-rotation arm and seasoned presence in a staff that lost Blake Snell, even if it's unlikely that he will replicate that level of success.
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