Sign: Justin Verlander, 3 years, $36M annually; 4th year option for $36M ($12M buyout). Essentially, $40M/AAV in guaranteed money. Look, Scherzer is probably a unique case. His deal was for his age (on Opening Day) 37, 38, 39 seasons. At the end of his contract, he will be 40y, 3 mo. JV will be about one month younger on Opening Day of his new deal, and his second season back from TJS. I think he still gets a lot, and will perform mostly well, but note the difference, not to mention Scherzer wasn't exactly an iron man this season, too. Plus Cohen is by far the wealthiest (and most aggressive spending) owner. I'd offer him the above deal, tell him take it or leave it. Want 300 wins, more deep playoff runs, and no state income tax? This is the team. DBacks get: Jose Urquidy Pedro Leon* Joe Perez Brandon Bielak Phil Maton (originally put Diaz, but I have a feeling AZ may not be interested given their abundance of OF unless they like him as an infielder) Astros get: Christian Walker and Daulton Varsho Altuve 2B Pena SS Alvarez DH Bregman 3B Tucker RF Walker 1B Varsho LF McCormick CF Maldonado C Bench: Hensley, Dubon, Lee, Meyers Rotation: Verlander, Valdez, McCullers, Javier, Brown, Garcia Pen: Pressly, Montero, Abreu, Neris, Stanek, Martinez, Taylor or Mushinski (lefty) Varsho can be a lefty on the bench on his rest days, and he's an emergency third catcher. Can rover all around the outfield, and helps keep Yordan's legs fresh (by DH'ing). I split the staff by catcher, so Maldy isn't as overworked.
Feels a lot like the Astros are going to pass on JV unless no one else is willing to give him a third year.
Not a criticism, but a question. If Arizona is flush with OF prospects, why include Leon? He's sort of my replacement for Dubon the way Hensley is my replacement for A Diaz, Lee for Castro/Vasquez and Y Diaz is for PH. And I think Yordan gets most of his starts at LF rather than DH moving forward. Yordan appears to be improving both physically (legs) and defensively. I haven't heard if they have any hand repair procedures will be required or if time will heal his issue. Dubon has little value as the 26th man with option restrictions.
You would know better, but I thought he was intelligent enough to understand the financial consequences in offers from high tax states verses no (income) tax states and the trends toward a wealth tax in high tax states. note - This only effects the Home Games or half his salary.
Thats funny the McTaggert deal came our hours after I posted that. Good for Verlander if he can swing it. I don’t think we match 3 years guaranteed.
Justin and Kate have both clearly ruled out NY. IMO, that leaves the California teams as the Astros main competition. The market for Justin will be tiny by his own constraints—competitive team that will allow him to attempt to get to 300, plus afford the salary risk. Tags confirmed the Scherzer contract hope that Verlander is pursuing. I don’t see a guaranteed 3rd year. 2 plus a club option is more likely.
From Tags article: —GM search will be methodical and slow —Yuli being looked at as a UTIL IF —Brantley will be looked at in Spring Training to test his shoulder —LHRP is an interest, probably if Verlander walks —an OF big Util bat is being explored, likely to replace Dubon —Verlander could be priced out beyond what Crane seems appropriate No direct mention of a 1B priority, but I think it is implied by the tactics with Yuli. We essentially have the following slots to upgrade 1B (Yuli upgrade) C (Maldy upgrade) P (Verlander or LHRP) Util IF (Yuli preferred by Crane) Util OF (Dubon upgrade) DH/LF (Brantley unless he can’t recover) We would have to make a trade to open up any other possibilities.
Why is NY ruled out? If I was betting money the Mets would be right at the top of the list. Their spring training site is close enough to Verlander's house in Florida.
It's my fear as well but we'll see. Plenty of options still on the table. Gotta put your nuts on the dresser.
Check this **** out. Verlander has made 317 MILLION in his career. Dude seriously gonna be greedy still? He's literally in the top 5 earners of all time. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_salaries.shtml
It's all about the money. Jv already won 2 WS with Astros, so he has no need to fall short on what he feels he's worth. He is making a last financial push for as much money as possible since this will most likely be the last time he'll be this good. I can understand that.
My thought was a top 10 cy young vote or 150 ip could guarantee the third year. Even if he's not going to Yankees they may not know it and could get used for leverage. We'll find out...
Based on that Crane interview, I now expect: -One good bat (Abreu, Bell, Haniger, Conforto, Benintendi) -a lefty reliever to please Dusty (Rogers, Hand, or Chafin) -Yuli in a bench role So the roster would look like: 2B Altuve SS Pena LF Alvarez 3B Bregman RF Tucker DH TBD Bat (Abreu, Bell, Haniger, Conforto, Benintendi) 1B TBD young hitter (Diaz, Hensley, Matijevic) CF McCormick C Maldonado Bench: Gurriel, Lee, Dubon, Meyers Rotation: Valdez, McCullers, Javier, Garcia, Urquidy Bullpen: Brown, TBD lefty RP (Chafin, Hand, Rogers), Maton, Stanek, Neris, Abreu, Montero, Pressly
Logical but disappointing. If we lose JV I’d want to see at least two big bats signed and not a young guy like Hensley full time at 1B. I’d also continue the 6 man rotation to keep everyone fresh and Brown deserves SP innings.
JV is going to see if any other team will pony up the 3 years and it what number. Then he will tell Crane team X is offering y years at z dollars. Then since we have now GM Crane will ask Bagwell and Reggie their opinion and then he will write up the contract to counter. It will be a little less to stay here because no state income, no moving the wire and kid for baseball season and he already knows what Dusty is like. Then JV will sign. If a team was going to throw 4 years of crazy money they would have already done it and he would have signed and they would have their big splash. Crane literally loves JV just like Altuve.
I understand wanting to add to the offense, but NOT at the expense of the pitching We had dominant hitting for what, about 6 years. Won one World Series which was great, kept falling short otherwise This past year we had lesser offense but DOMINANT pitching, and DEEP dominant staff, and won the World Series. So we are 1 for 1 in winning it all with deep dominant pitching So let Verlander walk and trade one of the other starters so we can have more offense....makes perfect sense huh
