UTK Flash 12/5/22

Verlander Signs With Mets

Justin Verlander is heading into his age-40 season in as good a position as any age-40 pitcher ever. Granted, there’s not that many but coming off a Cy Young, a World Series, and a dominant, largely healthy season, it’s no wonder teams were willing to throw big money at him. Jeff Passan reported this afternoon that Verlander has accepted a two-year deal worth $86 million. It’s not hard to figure the AAV on that one.

Verlander’s easy comp is Nolan Ryan, but aside from him, Roger Clemens’ late career numbers come to mind. Clemens would come in late, run up solid totals, and solidify the Yankees playoff rotation. Verlander will be doing the same for the Mets, absent the theatrics and late entry. Other post-40 pitchers are mostly knuckleballers, one-off greats (Randy Johnson), and Cy Young himself, who played an entirely different game.

Much will be made of the fact that Verlander is a year post-Tommy John. He’s actually almost two and that’s key. His entire Mets career (or at least this contract) will be inside the “honeymoon” period, where there’s almost no failure/revisions. Much will also be made of his longer rehab, but he could have pitched at the end of 2021, making the timing look much longer than it functionally was.

Pairing Verlander with Max Scherzer isn’t better than the deGrom-Scherzer pairing we saw for the last third of the year. It is significantly less risky. Verlander is a demonstrated workhorse. While it’s more likely that both he and Scherzer will see more small issues as they age, they’re working from a far higher base than most. As long as they hold onto their velocity, they should be effective.

Steve Cohen didn’t like losing a toy, so he bought a new one. Ok, maybe a bit used, but still pretty shiny. The Mets have money and are willing to use it and by doing so, might not be much better, but they’re certainly as good and loaded for another run at the playoffs.