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The San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a one-year, $15 million deal with starting pitcher Justin Verlander, ESPN reports.
Verlander, who turns 42 in February, will join the Giants for his 20th MLB season. The deal signals a return to the National League for Verlander after he briefly pitched for the New York Mets in 2023. He was rated as the No. 43 free agent in this year’s class by Yahoo Sports.
Verlander is one of the most decorated pitchers of his generation. A nine-time All-Star, he is a three-time Cy Young winner with the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. He was named AL MVP in 2011, in the same season that he won his first Cy Young with the Tigers.
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Verlander won his subsequent Cy Young awards in 2019 and 2022 with the Astros after joining Houston for the first time in 2017. He was a key member of Houston’s pitching staff during its runs to the 2017 and 2022 World Series championships.
Verlander signed with the Mets as a free agent prior to the 2023 season, only to be traded back to the Astros at the trade deadline. He remained with the Astros through the 2024 season before becoming a free agent.
Verlander is not the pitcher he once was. He was borderline unusable in his 90⅓ innings in 2024, scuffling to a 5.48 ERA and a career-low strikeout rate. While he’s been vocal about his desire to pitch until he turns 45, it’s hard to ignore a fastball that continues to lose velocity.
Before last season, Verlander had posted a 4-plus ERA just twice in a full season (4.84 in 2008, 4.54 in 2014), and he has a career ERA of 3.30. The Giants are surely hoping he can find some return to form in San Francisco next season. He joins a staff that features 2024 All-Star Logan Webb but lost two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to the rival Dodgers in free agency.