As recently as last week, it still seemed like the Giants would be buying at the trade deadline. It wasn’t long ago that they were linked to Isiah Kiner-Falefa (link) and thought to be interested in adding a right-handed hitting outfielder and at least one starting pitcher. Yet, they have now lost six straight, dropping them below .500. This morning, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reported that the Giants were listening to offers on their relievers, and the team confirmed as much this afternoon when they shipped off Tyler Rogers to the Mets.
So, it now appears Buster Posey’s club will be selling over the next 21 hours, with legendary starting pitcher Justin Verlander the latest name on the block. Both Morosi and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman have noted that Verlander is available in trades. The 42-year-old has full no-trade rights, but it stands to reason that he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to join a contender for the stretch run. The bigger question to ask is if the Giants would be willing to eat any of his approximately $5MM in remaining salary to make his contract more palatable for potential suitors.
Verlander is no longer an ace. He probably wouldn’t even make the postseason rotation for whichever contender might trade for him. Still, with a 4.53 ERA and a 4.58 SIERA in 18 starts this year, he would make a fine no. 5 starter for plenty of teams, with the upside to offer a little bit more. And while the value of so-called “veteran leadership” is difficult to quantify, Verlander’s extensive postseason resume and mentorship capabilities can only increase his appeal. The nine-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young winner, and two-time World Series champion has 3505 regular season innings and another 226 postseason innings under his belt. He has played in 20 MLB seasons, and his teams have made the playoffs in 12 of those years.
While neither Morosi’s nor Heyman’s reports linked Verlander to any specific teams, the Tigers’ recent acquisition of Chris Paddack demonstrates that teams are indeed looking for back-end starters this time of year. Almost every team has innings to fill, and it’s not hard to see why a club might be interested in adding a future Hall of Famer to fill those frames.
Send him back to Detroit just for the good feelings
🫶
I’ll allow it. Because it’s him.
Astros are on line 1
“Astros..line 1”..Actually, that call turned out to be a “drive time”, Houston radio station doing a prank call on the Giants.
All you can hear on the line is banging of trash cans. But why?
The only good feelings I get from Verlander in Detroit are from the 3 jacks Sandoval hit
And make him a reliever.
Five years ago, I’d love this.
I like ending the day with a chuckle.
2022 Justin Verlander, yes please.
Braves still need innings?
I don’t imagine JV would waive his no-trade just to go to Atlanta.
Contenders Mike! Follow along
He is 1-8 with his only win coming against the low-to-no scoring Braves.
The Braves need innings eaters yes,
but they need some money eaters to help unload some less than desirable hitters they need to get rid of. They will definitely have to have a desire to eat some or a lot of money!
1-8 offers zero insight. Verlander would be much better on a team that could score runs. In Verlander’s 13 starts that resulted in a loss, the Giants scored 23 runs total. That’s an average of 1.7 runs per game. Guys with a sub-5.00 ERA can can’t expect wins when the team scores less an 2 runs a game.
Verlander has a 4.53 ERA. Compare him to these guys:
Brady Singer, 8-8, 4.60 ERA
Nick Martinez, 9-9, 4.61 ERA
Taj Bradley, 6-6 4.61 ERA
Shane Baz, 8-7 4.61 ERA
Will Warren, 6-5, 4.64 ERA
Jake Irvin, 8-5, 4.69 ERA
Brandon Pfaadt, 10-7, 5.11 ERA
All .500 or better with a higher ERA than Verlander. Plus Verlander has a lower ERA than these guys:
Andre Pallante
Chris Paddock
Dylan Cease
Luis Severino
Mitchell Parker
J.P Sears
Zac Gallen
Sandy Alcantara
All pf them with more wins than Verlander. But let’s go back to the 1980s and use W/L to determine a guys value.
Problem is—as you, Jean Matrac, know as I do having watched all of his starts—that he’s only pitched decently in two of his 18 starts. The biggest issue is that he misses by a lot when he misses and it’s often, so by the 4th or 5th inning he’s thrown too many pitches. i think he can probably help a playoff-bound team but they should temper expectations.
Possibly, you think “decent” means all-star caliber. By the normal definition of the word, he’s been decent in the majority of his starts.
Pete, Disagree. Saying he’s been good in only 2 starts doesn’t stand up the facts. Verlander allowed 2 ERs or less in 10 of his starts. He allowed 3 ERs in 4 starts. Since he had 18 starts, he’s given up 4 or more ERs in just 4 starts, making 14 of his starts winnable..
The problem isn’t his pitching. It’s the lack of run support. He would be a useful part of a rotation if he got decent run support.
I just wonder if he could rejuvenate his career by becoming a closer. Everyone thought Smoltz was washed up and he became a lights out closer at the end of his career.
Except he hasn’t been bad(or hurt like smoltz), they just don’t score for him. Also no shot he agrees
The Giants may not score for him (or anyone for that matter), but he’s got his worst WHIP and nearly lowest Ks/9 of his career. His ERA ain’t nothin’ to write home about. All his numbers are pointing south. We can blame the Giants’ pathetic offense for many things, but they’re not making him walk people.
Smoltz moved to closer because he was hurt the entire 2000 season. Nobody thought he was washed up. He posted ERA’s of 3.02, 2.90 and 3.19 as a SP in the 3 years before he got hurt.
He also was 34 his first year as a closer, while Verlander is like 145 years old.
If we want to compare Verlander to Smoltz, the best comparison is Smoltz’s final season. Verlander is finished, and that’s okay.
Smoltz was 34-35 years old when he made the move to closer
And Justin is 42
Dennis Eckersly did that.
Eck started relieving at 32
TroyVan, Not sure where you’re getting your info, but your portrayal of Smoltz, and his role as closer is off the mark.
He was in no way “washed up” when he became a closer. It was more out of team need that he made the move. In his last season before becoming the closer he made 29 GS and had an ERA+ of 141. That’s hardly washed up.
Then, after 4 years as closer he returned to the rotation making 33 GS with an ERA+ of 139. In fact, after returning to the mound, over the next 3 seasons, he made 100 GS, with an ERA+ of 135. So I think your memory of Smoltz, his stint as a closer, and his career in general is faulty.
Smoltzie wasnt a 42 year old closer!
My rec league softball team will be making me available for trades to a contender as well. 1 warm case of cheap beer will get a deal done!!
Sucks to watch these guys get in this spot as a fan of the game but never even a fan that Verlander has played on.
Going back to Detroit would be a cool, fan move. Probably not a great baseball move for the Tigers however. The guy just hasn’t been good.
Be interesting to see if there any takers and terms
Goes back to Detroit
Accepts pen role
Excels at new one position
Becomes shut down closer in playoffs
Leads team to World Series
Retires
Hof in 5 years
Movie of final season out in 10
A girl can dream.
Case of beer is too expensive. Sorry. A bag of balls is all we can afford!
Sold!
6 pack at least. CMon man!! Not even everybody on the team would get their own but we will take it!
Red Sox could use a good back of the rotation guy and veteran leadership for Crochet / Bello.
agreed. but I am taking JV only if we take on basically half the money and give up nothing in return.
Agree, we’ll take Verlander and then take on Devers’ contract, they can have Hicks and Harrison
Crochet doesn’t need anyone to show him the way with his confidence and ability. Better to get a good pitcher than someone in their twilight.
They might politely ask him to give 1B a try.
Careful now – the HR department is watching.
Bring him home Scott Harris
A first ballot Hall of Fame candidate for sure. He’s done though. Enjoy your retirement Justin.
He can definitely hang them up and go home to his hot wife while he waits for his Hall of Fame induction.
I’d love to see him come out of the pen for Detroit. Can only imagine the pop of the crowd first time he comes out. Hell each time he came it would be huge if he was throwing up 0’s
Posey is the best GM the Dodgers have had in the past 25 years.
Go away Tony Gwynn, 27 rings, whatever other name you’ve used in here
Wrong guy. The troll you are talking about is way better at it.
Oh Darren. New material please. You’re embarrassing yourself.
3 World Series rings.
As a GM?
Is Devers available? Red Sox could use him at DH/!B?
Big man has been better of late. He’d be handy for someone.
Gonna assume they let him basically pick where he wants to go. Anything other than a ptbnl isn’t happening
At his current rate in the quest for 300 wins, he’d have to pitch through his year 60. Line up the suitors!!
I get it. Things that use to be normal I can still do now, but they’re hard and rarer. Good luck man but…
Must be short on peanuts at the stadium because thats all you will get for JV. Dissapointed in the way the season has turned out but there is still a lot of mess to clean up from the last 6 years. Melvin is a big part of the reason this team is falling apart. There is talent but without strong leadership in the dugout they are lost. Posey should probably look towards 2027 while developing our prospects and trade whatever you can to help better position the team to win in 2 years. Ramos and Ray are two players you could get a good return for and it may be addition by subtraction with Ramos at least. Tank the rest of the year while taking a closer look at Matos and Luciano and maybe even Eldridge in September.
Putting it on Melvin is harsh. When the pitchers were pitching the hitters weren’t hitting and vice versa. It’s not like a bullpen decision or two has cost them.
Give me an example of his lack of strong leadership in the dugout and I’ll consider it.
I can think of quite a few games where he was a couple batters too late in pulling pitchers. He’s done it with Bivens almost every time he pitches including the last time when he tried to squeeze a 4th inning out of him. The way Ramos gets away with being a clown on the bases and in LF simply because he can hit. No solution for a month and a half of poor at bats. There is talent on this roster much like there was when Bob was in SD. He just doesn’t get the most out of his players and leaves pitchers in too long. At some point he and his coaches need to be held accountable.
A trade to the Tigers or even Houston, would be nice finish for Verlander’s career. Let him start every 5th day and then place him in the pen come postseason play. He would be useful if the Tigers need to run out an “opener” for a game in a postseason. Tigers are also 4-6 (on a 4 game winning streak) in their last 10 games. I think Tigers can benefit having Verlander on the club. Having a feel good story helps, but having Verlander in the postseason, can put the Tigers in a very nice position for a 3rd World Series ring. I think he has just enough gas in him to help Detroit go the extra mile.
I agree Tigers make since here there rotation has been dealing with injuries all year they signed Cobb to be the vetren presence in the locker room but he cant get off the shelf Justin would be that Feel good story for both parties involved .. he could eat innings whenever anyone needs a day off if someone gets bounced early he could come in and do that role as a long reliever… I wouldn’t count him out as closer as well.. Scott Harris get it done…
Astros redux redux…
No big announcement about making Yaz available?
Maybe Hayman can break the story.
Thought Bob Melvin was suppose to fix the Giants? Seems like they’re just getting Gabe Kapler but with extra steps
It doesn’t seem like that all.
The stuff people write. You can just envision them sitting back with a “I’m so clever” self satisfied smile. Ha ha. This place is pure gold.
If he goes to the Dodgers, you could potentially have Kershaw, Verlander, Roki, Snell, and Ohtani all on the same IL. That would be elite.
Kershaw and Ohtani are not on the IL, and neither is Verlander. Strange comment
Ohtani got pulled from pitching tonight and hasn’t pitched hardly any with the Dodgers. Verlander and Kershaw have been hurt a ton over the past several years. Let’s not pretend they’re beacons of health.
Big if true!
Busted posey
I am actually Kate Upton
Hoping to package and unload a few under-performers, the Giants need 2B, C, and two OF players to get to a point of being competitive. They have only a couple players (non-pitchers) that are true major league players (can actually hit) the rest are dead wood choke artists, the pitching staff was the only reason they got to .500…..
Heard he’s dying to go back to the Mets. Something about unfinished business.
Giants collapsed. Playing the role of spoiler now….
JV has pitched well lately, got his velocity back (94-96mph) since his start in Toronto; seems like he runs out of gas after 90 pitches. Would love to see him back in Detroit
90 pitches or less would put JV right in line with most of MLB
since starters are usually done after 6 or 7 innings and then the bullpen takes over.