MLB players who received a qualifying this offseason had until 5 pm EST on Wednesday to either accept or reject it. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the only one to take the one-year, $18.4 million offer was first baseman Brandon Belt, who will be sticking with the San Francisco Giants in 2022.
One of the many who rejected the qualifying offer was starting pitcher Justin Verlander. While he’s only tossed six innings since the start of 2020 because he went under the knife for Tommy John surgery, there was reason to believe a solid market for his services existed. That was mostly the case because he looked impressive in a recent workout, which had 15-20 teams in attendance.
Literally minutes after the qualifying offer deadline passed, Verlander’s brother, Ben, broke some unexpectedly exciting news for Houston Astros fans:
🚨IT’S OFFICIAL🚨@JustinVerlander is signing with Houston Astros!!
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) November 17, 2021
There were rumors circulating that Verlander was entertaining multi-year offers, so I’m sure most people were interested in hearing exactly what the terms were between JV and Houston. Less than 10 minutes after the above tweet began sending everyone in a frenzy, Mark Berman of FOX 26 reported on the specifics of the agreement between both parties:
MLB source: @JustinVerlander has reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the #Astros worth $25 million, with a player option for a second year. https://t.co/9fF9KULOfj
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) November 17, 2021
As recently as Tuesday, it was rumored that Verlander preferred to sign with a team on the east coast. Organizations such as the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Toronto Blue Jays had all shown some level of interest over the past week or so. It seems as if none could top Houston’s offer, which offers both money for the upcoming year and the freedom to choose the route he wants for 2023.
The pitching market continues to move, with Eduardo Rodriguez jumpstarting it with his five-year, $77 million deal with the Detroit Tigers, followed by José BerrÃos‘ seven-year, $131 million extension with Toronto. It is pretty wild to see both Verlander and Noah Syndergaard command such big pay days considering their collective lack of innings in recent years. Since the start of 2020, these two have thrown a total of eight innings, yet they’ll be guaranteed to make a combined $46 million in 2022.
