It’s next season in Detroit. After many years Tigers fans are hoping to reunite with the future Hall of Famer Justin VerlanderThe team announced on Tuesday that Verlander has been signed to a one-year contract through the 2026 season. The ISE client is guaranteed $13MM, per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, though $11MM of that amount will be deferred and paid out starting in 2030.
Even though he will turn 43 later this month, Verlander hasn’t expressed any desire to call it quits. Instead, he previously said he hoped to make it to 40. He’s coming off a solid season at age 42 — one that started slowly but eventually saw Verlander once again play as a major league starter. The right-hander pitched 152 innings for the Giants last season, posting a 3.85 ERA, a 20.7% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 34.5% groundball rate.
These are solid numbers but they mask Verlander’s finishing ability. In his last 13 trips to the mound, he has totaled 72 2/3 innings with a terrible 2.60 ERA, a 22.8% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. Verlander limited hard contact better than the average pitcher, logged an average of 93.9 mph on his four-seamer and had an 11% swing rate that was exactly a match for the league average. He only got four wins during his time as a Giant, hindering his pursuit of the 300-win milestone, but that was more due to poor pitching and a shaky bullpen job behind him than anything Verlander did in particular.
Verlander returns to what now looks like a stacked Detroit rotation. He will also be reunited with his former Astros teammate Framber Valdezwho agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Detroit last week. That pair will join the ace Tarik Skubal as he looks to join Verlander as a three-time Cy Young winner. Rotation will be shortened for right-handers Jack Flaherty again Casey MizeA healthy Reese Olson would have been among Detroit’s top five starters, even with Verlander in the mix, but the team revealed this afternoon that he suffered a shoulder injury last season and underwent season-ending surgery.
Presumably, there will be a lot of initial rotation of other exchange candidates, including promising to be fair. Troy Melton. Injuries are inevitable, so there probably won’t be too many times in the season when all six of Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Mize, Flaherty and Drew Anderson they are all in full power. High hopes Jackson Jobe he could be in the mix late in the season, but he will miss most of the year after Tommy John surgery last summer. Still, having someone of Verlander’s caliber to watch and learn from during spring training is an opportunity Jobe (and the other young arms in Tigers camp) will no doubt relish.
Coincidentally or otherwise, Verlander’s $13MM guarantee matches the $13MM gap the Tigers faced in last week’s arbitration hearing with Skubal. The reigning AL Cy Young winner won that hearing. Perhaps the Tigers wouldn’t have gone as far with the contract extension if the arbitration panel had ruled in the team’s favor, but that’s a moot point. Either way, Verlander is back with the team that drafted him No. 2 overall pick out of Old Dominion back in 2004, and will continue his long quest to become MLB’s 25th 300 game hitter.
Verlander currently sits at 266 career wins, tied with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 37th most in game history. He’ll likely need three more seasons to have a chance at reaching the 300 mark, but he previously said he hopes to play until he’s at least 45. Based on last year’s strong finish and his overall average stats, he still has some left in the tank as he works toward that lofty goal.
The recent additions of Valdez and Verlander will put the Tigers in the luxury tax zone for the first time. RosterResource estimates currently have Detroit about $12MM over the $244MM cap. That means they will pay a tax of 20% of Verlander’s current contract value. It’s more than the Tigers have ever spent. That late run has put the Tigers as one of the clear leaders in the AL Central’s most dominant bystander this offseason. They took their time, but the Tigers made it clear they were serious about winning the Central and aiming for a World Series win in Skubal’s final season before being relieved.
