If Verlander had signed a 2 year deal for 2 million dollars, won 2 Cy Youngs, and blew out his arm in the last game, the Astros wouldn't give him 60 million dollars as a "make up" for his overperforming those 2 years. If the outside offers are comparable to ours, then OK, I could see wanting to repay the Astros by choosing them. But people really need to get over this "he owes the Astros" nonsense. He's a free agent, and he will do what's best for him, just like we will.
I can see JV signing with the Astros, but I can't see him accepting the QO. If he was going to do that, there's no reason to do the showcase for 30 teams, I wouldn't think. He wants more than a QO type deal, and I imagine he'll pursue it.
Exactly. It's not like we are felt guilty when Correa played for about a half million a year or taking less of a signing bonus so we could sign McCullers.
I don’t think JV will have any sense of ‘I got 66 million $$ and pitched one game”. That’s just the way sports works. Now maybe he has a sense of unfinished business here. A bond with some of the guys that says we owe ourselves a ring and he wants to stay and do his part. But no way he stays cause he got 66 million and got injured. After all he say how we did Springer.
Agreed. For him, it's not like it was less work. He had to rehab for 2 years from an injury, have surgery, etc. It's not like he was sitting around doing nothing and collecting a paycheck.
Not to mention he literally pointed out how he pitched in short rest in the Rays series, took the ball every start he could in 2019, and then blew out his arm the very next year. Sounds like he completely acknowledges he was overused that season... and then was pushed even further in the playoffs. He was clearly out of gas that world series (along with game 5 of the ALCS). Can't fault him for seeing a causation as to why the ligament finally gave, but nobody is going to convince him that he didn't give it all for the team that was paying him.
https://www.mlb.com/news/justin-verlander-rumors If this guy is hitting 97 to show off for other teams why the **** wasn't he on the WS roster?
Someone intimated on the board about injury insurance policy being the reason why he wasn't with the team at all. Pure speculation, but lets say the insurance covered 75 percent of his salary which is around around 24 million bucks. Would Crane and Click risk that for a few innings of Verlander where he may or may not be effective. It also would have required a roster spot. Our BP did phenomenally well during the season. Our starting pitchers were the ones getting hammered and Verlander is not ready for 70-100 pitches. If McCullers was healthy, we would have gone to at least 7 games.
Because hitting 97 on the gun and being 8 inches outside of the zone doesn't do **** for anybody?? There's a ****ton more to pitching than just rearing back and letting fly. We have no idea what his command was like, how long he could sustain that velocity, or whether he could throw his full range of pitches effectively. Oh, and there's also that bit about insurance which probably makes the whole scenario moot anyways.
You definitely could be right about all of the mechanics being off and everything else that goes into pitching. It was *mostly* a tongue in cheek comment. But, the story does still fit with my general dissatisfaction with the Verlander situation. I don't think the insurance element should matter. If he could have gone he should have gone. I think a title would have been worth whatever they would have had to pay if it didn't work out. This whole season just seemed like Verlander was putting himself above the team in my opinion, and this report didn't help that. I'm not denying that there was a decent chance he couldn't have pitched anyway.
But that's just the thing....there was absolutely zero guarantee that Verlander was the difference between us winning the World Series and not winning it. In fact, I'd say the overwhelming odds are that he would not have impacted us winning. And because of those overwhelming odds, having a significant portion of his massive salary covered this season *should* take priority over the off chance that he can give us 5-6 innings in a spot appearance in the World Series. That money can be allocated to fill any number of needs this off-season. I understand where you're coming from regarding Verlander's presence (or lack thereof) this season, but ultimately it means very little to both the present and the future. In the present, he most likely would not have been ready to pitch, so from Crane's perspective, he'd rather JV stay at home and collect the insurance money. Now for the future, if JV looks good and proves he's worthy of whatever contract the open market says he deserves, then Crane would be a fool not to offer him something competitive. I doubt the Astros have much resentment towards JV if any at all, and whatever ill feelings there could be in the locker room wash away the instant he decides to re-sign here.
Aside from all the other points already made, let's assume he actually could have given a few innings. Why in the world would he want to risk a bad performance, suggesting (or at least hinting) that he doesn't still have it, and therefore, decrease his chances of getting decent money. It makes zero sense for him. He knows he'll be pursued, so IMHO, it makes a lot more sense for him to roll the dice with "I'll be ready for next season" with a short throwing session, than to risk flopping in the WS.