Future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander has signed a one-year, $15 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.
Verlander, who pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 2005-17, wants to achieve 300 wins in his MLB career, but he remains 38 wins from the historic milestone, which means he could continue to pitch beyond the 2025 season.
He turns 42 on Feb. 20.
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“I do feel like I have a lot more to give pitching-wise,” Verlander told reporters in early October, following the 2024 season. “This year was a tough year, learned a lot from it. … But having an offseason to get things right, I definitely feel like I want to continue to pitch and compete. I’m not ready to step away yet.”
The Tigers traded Verlander to the Astros on Aug. 31, 2017, for three prospects: Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron and Jake Rogers. Only one of those prospects — Rogers — remains in the Tigers’ organization, as the other two flamed out.
Since then, Verlander has made 130 starts for the Astros and 16 starts for the Mets. He owns a 2.76 ERA across more than 900 innings in those 146 starts, averaging 6.2 innings per start.
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In May 2024, Verlander said “fate” would decide if he returned to the Tigers before the end of his legendary MLB career, which will extend to 20 years when he makes his first start for the Giants in the 2025 season.
It’s been 2,688 days since Verlander last pitched for the Tigers.
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In 2025, Verlander will make $15 million from the Giants, which is the same amount of money as fellow veterans Alex Cobb and Charlie Morton will receive on one-year contracts from the Tigers and Baltimore Orioles, respectively.
The Tigers signed Cobb, 37, on Dec. 9, followed by the Orioles signing Morton, 41, on Jan. 3 and the Giants signing Verlander, 41, on Jan. 7. Over the past three seasons, Verlander has performed better than both Cobb and Morton.
But Cobb is projected to perform best in 2025.
Cobb is projected by FanGraphs for a 3.65 ERA with a 6.7% walk rate and a 19.9% strikeout rate across 127 innings in 23 starts (worth 2.0 fWAR), while Verlander projects for a 4.43 ERA across 139 innings in 24 starts (worth 1.5 fWAR) and Morton projects for a 4.16 ERA across 156 innings in 29 starts (worth 1.4 fWAR).
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Of his 262 wins, Verlander recorded 183 with the Tigers, 73 with the Houston Astros and six with the New York Mets. He had a 5.48 ERA with 27 walks and 74 strikeouts across 90⅓ innings in 17 starts in 2024, hindered by shoulder and neck injuries.
Moving forward, Verlander will add to his résumé with the Giants.
He
wants to pitch until he’s 45 years old
.
Verlander needs to average 9.5 wins per season over the next four years — from his age-42 season through his age-45 season — to reach the 300-win milestone.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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