Wow. $50 mil over 2 years if he wants it for a guy coming off 2 years of almost no pitching entering his age 39 season. Hard to believe.

The source of Justin Verlander's signing being Verlander (Ben).

Yeah, but it doesn’t surprise me. I thought my beloved Detroit Tigers would have to go three years, $60 million with opt outs after each season to get Verlander back to Detroit…

I imagine young Katie is most pleased.
This gets that slovenly, old guy off the couch and doing something productive with his time.

he's 38, she's 29.

both are not that far off the "Sell By..." date in their respective industries, alas.

While the players cry foul in labor negotiations, two pitchers coming off TJS (one with a spotty track record, the other a future HOFer entering his age 39 season) just secured... *checks notes* $71 million dollars.

Wow. $50 mil over 2 years if he wants it for a guy coming off 2 years of almost no pitching entering his age 39 season. Hard to believe.

Astros betting on high inflation? On a 2-year deal, at most? Probably not, so, they must be comfortable with Verlander’s medicals. Also, another sign that MLB expects to be rolling in post-pandemic dough.

If the Astros think he can put up 3 WAR/season, this is a good deal for both sides.

Let me join the "that's insane" team. He's 38 years old and effectively hasn't pitched in two years. I thought there was a good chance that he was done, not that he'd get a $25m contract with a PLAYER option for another year. Or maybe he'd get a very small, very incentive-laden, contract.

FWIW, ZiPS has him with a 3.63 ERA in 62 innings. Don't know how it calculates innings for guys who haven't played in two years.

So the URL says one year, the title says one year and the content says one year yet...

[10]?

The Houston Astros and right-hander Justin Verlander have agreed to a one-year, $25 million contract with a player option for a second season, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

Two years off overstates things. He last pitched in late July 2020.

And it's easy to forget how good (and durable) he was. 2019: CY, led the majors in IP. 2018: CY runner-up, #2 in AL in IP (by 1 inning), #1 in K. Led the majors in WHIP both years.

Ehh TLDR

Sounds like the Astros have thrown in the towel on Correa.

I expected something like QO$ plus incentives to take it to ... whatever, let's say $25 ... plus a team option. This does seem an overspend -- our frequent question of who were they bidding against? I don't doubt there were plenty of teams willing to give a big 1-year deal but a player option for year 2 seems silly. I wonder if there's some clause on that option -- must make at least X starts or must not finish the season on the DL or similar.

This might seem cheap to the Astros. Back in 2006, they paid 43-yo Clemens $12 M (b-r) for just over half a season -- i.e. the agreement was he wouldn't take the mound until late June. The Yanks did the same the next year, upping his salary to $17. Fifteen years of inflation and $25 for a full season is a bargain. Clemens was pretty awesom for the Astros -- 2.30 ERA, 3.5 WAR, 2.6 WAA in 19 starts; he was not so good for the Yanks but not terrible. Of course in 2005, Clemens posted an ERA under 2 and 7.8 WAR in over 200 IP rather than spend it on the IL. He finished 3rd in CYA that year cuz wins (and the BBWAA probably still made the wrong choice by those criteria.)

Sounds like the Astros have thrown in the towel on Correa.

Is that to signify a fastball or curveball?

JV's 226 wins just doesn't seem like enough for a Hall of Famer...until you allow for the fact he's nearly 100 games over .500, the ring, the two CYs, the MVP, the ROY, and that he's right near the dead center of HOF SPs with 72 WAR and 61 JAWS. One more good season (or two OK ones) should just about clinch it.

JV's 226 wins just doesn't seem like enough for a Hall of Famer... One more good season (or two OK ones) should just about clinch it.

You're joking right? JV could retire today, be on the ballot in 5 years and be voted in by the writers within 3 years, guaranteed. He's surefire, done and dusted, bolted horse, water is wet obvious choice for the HOF.

Assuming Verlander takes the mound on opening day in 2022, he will have pitched a total of 6 innings of regular season or post-season baseball over the previous 884 days (October 29 2019 - March 31 2022), and will have been paid $11million per inning in that time.

#17 - If 226 wins isn't enough for a pitcher who debuted in the 2000's or later, then they're basically going to have to stop inducting starting pitchers, since that win total is going to become very rare going forward.

Your list of his other accomplishments didn't even include the 3000+ k's, pitching Triple Crown, 3 no hitters, and a crap ton of black ink. He's already better than Halladay, who sailed in on the first ballot with only 203 wins.

Yes, Verlander's a lock.