Mets, Justin Verlander Agree To Two-Year, $86 Million Deal

Per SNY’s Andy Martino, the New York Mets and free agent pitcher Justin Verlander are in agreement on a two-year, $86 million deal, pending medicals. Carlos Baerga was the first to report the two were in agreement last night.

The deal has a third-year vested option. Verlander, 39, will make the same as new (and old) teammate Max Scherzer who is under contract for next season at $43.33 million. Scherzer also signed a two-year deal with an option for a third season.

Verlander’s contract will be $43.3 million per year, he has a full no-trade clause and his third-year option is $35 million.

Verlander returned from Tommy John surgery in 2022. Despite it being his 17th year pitching it was as good as his MVP season 11 years ago. Verlander went 18-4, with a 1.75 ERA in 175.0 innings pitched. He struck out 185 batters and only walked 29.

The Mets had the ability to make this move after Jacob deGrom opted to sign a five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers. The Mets will now be paying both Scherzer and Verlander more per season than their former ace.

Verlander is a sure-fire Hall of Famer pitcher. He’s won an MVP, three Cy Young awards, a nine-time All-Star, two-time World Series champ, a two-time ERA champ, and won the pitchers triple crown.

The best part of Verlander? His durability. A year after Tommy John surgery he makes 28 starts. Not counting his debut season of two starts in 2005, the lowest amount of starts he’s made in one season was 20 in 2015. Since then he’s made 34, 33, 28, 34, 34, and one in 2020 when he suffered his injury.

The Mets have an ace they can rely on now. Verlander, despite being 40 at the start of the season, will have shown more capability to remain on the field than either of the other two big names that were on the market this offseason.

One fun thing to watch will be the record books. Verlander and Scherzer rank 12th and 13th all-time in strikeouts. The margin between the two is only five. There were reports that the two didn’t get along well in Detroit but that seems like a care the Mets don’t have after bringing the rotation-mates back together.

Scherzer brought out the best competitive spirit of everybody on the Mets last season and it’s likely he’ll do the same with Verlander.

The Mets have made a major offseason splash for the third straight season in a row. Hopefully, the trio of Francisco Lindor, Scherzer, and Verlander can come together to bring the Mets their first World Series in forever.