Justin Verlander is one of the greatest pitchers of this or any era. His trophy case is teeming with awards — a Rookie of the Year, three Cy Youngs, an MVP and two World Series rings. One day he'll walk right into Cooperstown without ever having to sweat the selection process.
Verlander has been the very definition of a workhorse pitcher throughout his career. At 42 years old and currently in his 20th major league season, he's outlasted all of his peers. At the start of the season, he was the oldest player in the majors (a distinction that has since been taken over by the 45-year-old Rich Hill).
He's also been a model citizen and a committed philanthropist, and he has a beautiful family with a supermodel wife and two kids. If it sounds like I'm buttering him up, it's true, and it's because I want to take the sting out of what I'm about to say.
Justin Verlander can no longer help an MLB team. It's not a knock at all on him after the career he's had, and it's an unfortunate reality that this day comes for every player, whether they're a future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer or a utility infielder who only ever got a cup of coffee in the bigs.
With the trade deadline just eight days away, contending teams are mapping out moves to carry them into the postseason and beyond. One of those is Verlander's twice-former team, the Houston Astros.
In what should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the American League West for the last decade, the Astros are once again in first place in the division, five games up on the Mariners. They're also half a game behind the Tigers for the best record in the AL and just a game behind the Cubs and Brewers for the top mark in the entire league.
The Astros can't afford to get back in the Justin Verlander business
Like most contending teams, the Astros will probably be in the market for a quality starter in the next week. With the Giants falling back towards .500 after a hot start, ESPN's Jeff Passan believes that president of baseball operations Buster Posey could initiate what he called a "soft-offload," a strategy which could include dealing Verlander away.
The Astros are the most natural suitor for the big right-hander. Verlander won two World Series in Houston as part of the 2017 and 2022 teams. He spent seven seasons there, so it would be an easy transition. The Astros have already traded for him twice, acquiring him first from the Tigers in 2017 and then again from the Mets in 2023. Someone get Sarah Langs on the phone, because I don't know if one team has ever traded for the same player on three separate occasions.
Regardless of the comfort of seeing Verlander back on the Daikin Park mound, he no longer has the stuff to help in a pennant chase. He's 0-8 with the Giants this year with a 4.99 ERA and the worst WHIP of his career. The only time he's allowed less than two runs in a start since April was against the lowly White Sox nearly a month ago.
The Astros let Verlander walk this past offseason because they saw first-hand that the magic was no longer there. Nothing he's done in San Francisco should change their mind, and nostalgia has no place in a pennant race. Besides, there will be other pitchers available who could actually help — guys like Seth Lugo, Mackenzie Gore and Merrill Kelly
Verlander is an Astros legend, but there are no emeritus positions in the postseason. If the Astros are serious about contending for another World Series, and I'm sure they are, then they need to resist the urge to bring him back.