Mets to sign Justin Verlander

Mets agree to a contract with Justin Verlanderreports Andy Martino from SNY. Carlos Berga, the former soccer player, mentioned last night on instagram The Mets and Verlander signed a two-year, $86.8 million deal. Berga reports that there is a mutual option for 2025 but Martino says it is a merit option. FanSided’s Robert Murray stating that the final tally is in fact $86.6 million. John Heyman from the New York Post Reports Verlander will make $43 million each season with an option of $35 million. Verlander will also have a full no-trade clause. Hey man He adds that the 2025 option would be a player’s option if Verlander pitched 140 innings in 2024.

Verlander was one of the most distinguished free agents in modern baseball, due to his unusual circumstances. He only made one start in 2020 and missed all of 2021 due to Tommy John surgery, after which he landed it into free agency. At that point, he had basically missed two full years and was well on his way to a 39-year-old season. However, he did win the American League Cy Young Award when healthy in 2019.

Despite his long layoff, Verlander had plenty of interest based on his previous track record and spring fair showing his health to interested teams. He eventually re-signed with the Astros on a one-year, $25 million deal with a $25 million matching player option for 2023 on the condition that Verlander hit 130 innings this year. Not only did Verlander surpass that goal, but he added another stellar campaign to his long record. He threw 175 innings, short on the injured list with a calf injury. He posted a 1.75 young ERA with a strikeout rate of 27.8%, a walk rate of 4.4% and a ground ball average of 37.9%, earning his third career Cy Young Award.

This created free agency that was essentially unprecedented. It’s very rare for pitchers to bowl so well late in their careers, especially after such a long layoff. With Verlander about to turn 40 in March, he won’t be getting an incredibly long deal. However, he has previously expressed interest in being involved in his mid-40s, which conceivably means he could seek a multi-year deal of some sort. It was the closest reasonable comparison Max Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130 million deal to join the Mets a year ago, when he was heading into his 37-year-old season. This came in at an annual average of $43.33 million, which broke the previous record of $36 million Mike Trout And the Gerrit Cole.

Verlander is now a few years older than Scherzer was then, but the AAV was still apparently an awful sign for Verlander to aim for. Astros owner Jim Crane my tablet That Verlander was using Scherzer’s deal as a target in free agency, which was apparently outside their comfort zone. For the Mets, their rotation has been greatly affected by free agency, eg Jacob DeGrumAnd the Chris Bassett And the Taeguan Walker Everything he has is on the open market. DeGrom is already off the plate, having signed with Rangers in recent days. But they quickly switched sides and replaced him with Verlander, who would now replace DeGrume as the assistant alongside Scherzer. With Verlander’s deal appearing to be $86.6 million over two years, he would effectively match Scherzer at AAV’s $43.3 million price tag, although there could be more details being reported that change numbers after the decimal point. This is a reunion of Verlander and Scherzer who were teammates in Detroit from 2010 to 2014.

For the Astros, they’ve been incredibly aggressive this winter but it seems like their priorities were elsewhere. Even without the Verlander, the turn is fine with the Framper ValdezAnd the Lance McCullers JrAnd the Christian JavierAnd the Luis GarciaAnd the Jose Urquidi And the Hunter Brown They are all solid options. Seeing as they never saw eye to eye with Verlander, they have since devoted their resources to re-signing the savior Rafael Montero Hence the signing of a first baseman Jose Abreu.

The Mets have become a financial powerhouse in recent years, with new owner Steve Cohen willing to spend at or near the top of the market in order to boost the club’s roster. Last year, opening day paychecks ran out at $264 million each Cradle baseball contracts. They’re now set to go into 2023 with the Verlander and Scherzer merger at just over $86 million, which far exceeds the entire payroll of some of the entire teams. list resource The Mets’ payroll for next year is now estimated at $277 million, though perhaps more importantly their luxury tax estimate is $289 million. The minimum competitive credit tax in 2023 will be $233 million, with three other tiers of $253 million, $273 million and $293 million, with the Mets just under the upper limit. Since the Mets also paid CBT in 2022, a second payer in 2023 will be subject to increased penalties. All spending above the threshold is subject to a 30% tax, with additional fees in each subsequent category: 12%, 45%, and 60%. In other words, any spending that exceeds the $293 million level will be subject to a 90% tax. Since they’re still looking to upgrade their staff and beyond, it seems almost certain that they’ll actually cross that line.

All of this spending has helped the Mets put together a solid team in 2022, winning 101 games. Although this was the second-highest total in franchise history, they were still pushed to Wild Card status by the Braves. The Mets finished with a bitter first-round defeat, losing their best-of-three series to the Padres. They now seem to be planning to spend aggressively again and hope to do better in 2023.

Verlander was one of three pitchers considered as free agency aces this winter, along with DeGrom and Carlos Rodon. The Mets lost deGrum to the Rangers but now replaced him with Verlander. For teams still looking to add to the front of their rotation, they will now have to focus on Rodon, who is It said I am looking for a six year deal.

More is coming.