The Mets agree to a contract with Justin Verlander, according to reports Andy Martino from SNY. Carlos Berga, the former soccer player, mentioned last night on instagram The Mets and Verlander signed a two-year, $86.8 million deal. Berga reports that there is a mutual option for 2025 but Martino says it is a merit option. FanSided’s Robert Murray stating that the final tally is in fact $86.6 million. John Heyman from the New York Post Reports Verlander will make $43 million each season with an option of $35 million. Verlander will also have a full no-trade clause. Hey man He adds that the 2025 option would be a player’s option if Verlander pitched 140 innings in 2024.
Verlander was one of the most distinguished free agents in modern baseball, due to his unusual circumstances. He only made one start in 2020 and missed all of 2021 due to Tommy John surgery, after which he landed it into free agency. At that point, he had basically missed two full years and was well on his way to a 39-year-old season. However, he did win the American League Cy Young Award when healthy in 2019.
Despite his long layoff, Verlander had plenty of interest based on his previous track record and spring fair showing his health to interested teams. He eventually re-signed with the Astros on a one-year, $25 million deal with a $25 million matching player option for 2023 on the condition that Verlander hit 130 innings this year. Not only did Verlander surpass that goal, but he added another stellar campaign to his long record. He threw 175 innings, short on the injured list with a calf injury. He posted a 1.75 young ERA with a strikeout rate of 27.8%, a walk rate of 4.4% and a ground ball average of 37.9%, earning his third career Cy Young Award.
This created free agency that was essentially unprecedented. It’s very rare for pitchers to bowl so well late in their careers, especially after such a long layoff. With Verlander about to turn 40 in March, he won’t be getting an incredibly long deal. However, he has previously expressed interest in being involved in his mid-40s, which conceivably means he could seek a multi-year deal of some sort. The closest reasonable comparison was Max Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130 million deal to join the Mets a year ago, when he was on his way to his 37-year-old season.
Verlander is a few years older now than Scherzer was at the time, but the average annual value of $43.33 million was still what seemed like a rough mark for Verlander to achieve. Astros owner Jim Crane my tablet That Verlander was using Scherzer’s deal as a target in free agency, which was apparently outside their comfort zone. For the Mets, their rotation has been heavily influenced by free agency, as Jacob DeGrom, Chris Bassett and Tejuan Walker are all on the open market. DeGrom is already off the plate, having signed with Rangers in recent days. But they quickly switched sides and replaced him with Verlander, who would now replace DeGrume as the assistant alongside Scherzer. With Verlander’s deal appearing to be $86.6 million over two years, he would effectively match Scherzer at AAV’s $43.3 million price tag, although there could be more details being reported that change numbers after the decimal point. This is a reunion of Verlander and Scherzer who were teammates in Detroit from 2010 to 2014.
For the Astros, they’ve been incredibly aggressive this winter but it seems like their priorities were elsewhere. Even without Verlander, the rotation is in good shape with Framper Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr., Christian Javier, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidi and Hunter Brown all present as solid options. Since they apparently never saw eye to eye with Verlander, they have since devoted their resources to re-signing reliever Rafael Montero and then signing first baseman Jose Abreu.
The Mets have become a financial powerhouse in recent years, with new owner Steve Cohen willing to spend at or near the top of the market in order to boost the club’s roster. Last year, opening day paychecks ran out at $264 million each Cradle baseball contracts. They’re now set to go into 2023 with the Verlander and Scherzer merger at just over $86 million, which far exceeds the entire payroll of some of the entire teams. list resource The Mets’ payroll for next year is now estimated at $277 million, though perhaps more importantly their luxury tax estimate is $289 million. The minimum competitive credit tax in 2023 will be $233 million, with three other tiers of $253 million, $273 million and $293 million, with the Mets just under the upper limit.
More is coming.