The San Francisco Giants are likely to go as far as their crop of young pitchers can carry them next season. So it made sense for the club to invest in a future Hall of Famer to help show them the way.
The Giants have agreed to a one-year contract with 41-year-old right-hander Justin Verlander, a source confirmed on Tuesday. ESPN first reported the agreement.
The deal, which is pending a physical, has strong parallels to the 2009 signing of 45-year-old left-hander Randy Johnson, who won his 300th game in a Giants uniform while finishing out his 22-year career on his way to Cooperstown. Verlander, who will be entering his 20th season, is not chasing such a luminous milestone — he is 262-147 — but the three-time Cy Young Award winner is just as obvious a first-ballot Hall of Fame candidate.
Verlander, a two-time World Series winner, gives cachet to an organization that remains light on star power and likely won’t be predicted to finish in the upper echelon of the National League West. He’ll be called upon to mentor a group of emerging arms that includes Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, Keaton Winn, Landen Roupp and Carson Whisenhunt. And while Verlander is no longer a sure bet to front a rotation or serve as a co-ace to Logan Webb, his presence should help to moderate a starting staff that threw the fewest innings in the NL last season.
Verlander is coming off an injury-plagued season that included shoulder and neck issues. He was 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA in 17 starts with the Houston Astros and was not on their postseason roster. But he’s pulled a career resurgence or two before and is just three years removed from his last Cy Young-winning season in 2022, when he went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA in 28 starts.
Verlander will find himself back on the same mound where he once started Game 1 of the 2012 World Series for the Detroit Tigers — and wore a look of amazement on his face after surrendering his second home run of the night to Pablo Sandoval, who would go on to hit a third against the Detroit Tigers bullpen. Verlander turned his back to the plate and his reaction required no advanced training in lip reading: “Wow.”
A dozen years later, it’s another wow moment for Verlander and San Francisco.
(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
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