Justin Verlander signed with the Mets on Monday, leaving a hole in the Houston Astros rotation. How can they now move to replace the AL Cy Young winner?
The MLB Winter Meetings are well underway in San Diego and it’s no surprise that we’ve also started to see some of the dominoes fall, even if the results haven’t been all that surprising. On Monday, Trea Turner signed a monster 11-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies — but not before the Mets replaced Jacob deGrom, who signed with the Rangers, by inking Justin Verlander to a two-year deal.
Verlander, of course, captured the AL Cy Young last season with the Houston Astros while helping the club capture a World Series crown. So in a vacuum, it’s going to be hard to replace him. At the same time, though, if there’s one area in which Houston isn’t hurting, it’s starting pitching.
Even with losing Verlander, the Astros still have a strong five-man rotation that consists of Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr., José Urquidy, Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier. That’s a group that the team could indeed feel confident moving forward with without making another move.
However, if the Astros were to get aggressive and try to add another stud to the rotation, they could look to replace Verlander with a lefty as Valdez is the only southpaw in the five-man group right now. With that in mind, these are three potential replacements the Astros could sign after losing Justin Verlander.
Astros: 3 Justin Verlander replacements Houston could acquire
3. LHP Andrew Heaney could be a sneaky good target for the Astros
While Andrew Heaney has not been shy in speaking out about the 2017 cheating scandal in Houston, we’ve seen that some players will eat their words when the price and opportunity are right — especially after the Astros just won a World Series without all the controversy. And he’s a lefty who could be a tremendous value for Houston.
Heaney was limited in the 2022 season with an ailing shoulder but he had a 3.10 ERA and 35.5% strikeout rate in the 75 innings he pitched, showing terrific potential when he could get on the mound in Los Angeles. However, injuries have been a bit of the story with him throughout his career, which is why his market is a bit supressed.
That puts the Astros in an advantageous position to gamble on Heaney. With his upside and the team’s pitching depth, they could give him the four-year deal he’s looking for but not be completely up a s**t creek with no paddle if he does suffer another injury while also benefitting by having another quality lefty in the mix.