The Orioles have shown interest in Justin Verlander, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. While the O’s are the first club publicly tied to the future Hall of Famer beyond the incumbent Giants, Rosenthal unsurprisingly writes that Verlander has received interest from multiple teams.
Baltimore has made a pair of rotation additions this offseason. They sent four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for Shane Baz, whom they control for three years. Baltimore also brought Zach Eflin back on a one-year, $10MM deal after an injury-riddled season. They’re in decent shape from a depth perspective. It still feels a little light at the top end. They’re banking on Kyle Bradish in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Trevor Rogers was fantastic over 18 starts but was in Triple-A as recently as last May. Baz has shown upper mid-rotation talent but very little consistency on a start to start basis.
Framber Valdez, arguably this offseason’s best free agent pitcher, remains unsigned. The Orioles have shown interest throughout the winter. They have enough controllable position player talent to make a move on the trade front if someone like Freddy Peralta or MacKenzie Gore becomes available. Rosenthal suggests that the Orioles could view Verlander more as a fallback option if they don’t come away with a higher-ceiling arm.
At age 43, Verlander no longer has that kind of upside. He showed last season that he still has plenty left in the tank, though. He made 29 starts for the Giants and pitched 152 innings of 3.85 ERA ball. Verlander recorded a 20.7% strikeout rate while walking around 8% of batters faced. His 11% swinging strike rate was his highest since he won his third career Cy Young with the Astros in 2022. Verlander has maintained a 94 MPH average fastball and pitched well after an early-season pec strain cost him a month. He turned in a 3.60 ERA behind a 22% strikeout percentage over his final 19 starts.
Like Valdez, Verlander has ties to Baltimore president of baseball operations Mike Elias. The O’s front office leader was an assistant general manager in Houston during the pitcher’s first season and a half with the Astros. Verlander would also align with Baltimore’s history of free agent spending under Elias. His front office has yet to sign a free agent starter to a multi-year deal, and they’ve frequently targeted older starters (e.g. Kyle Gibson, Tomoyuki Sugano, Charlie Morton) to secure shorter commitments. Verlander figures to sign one-year contracts for the remainder of his career.
Last winter’s rotation moves backfired. None of Morton, Sugano or Gibson met expectations and the rotation’s disastrous performance early in the season dug a hole from which the Orioles couldn’t recover. The O’s made a four-year offer to Corbin Burnes and took on a year and a half of Eflin’s contract via trade in 2024, so they’re not firmly committed to one-year commitments. Still, it’s true that signing Verlander would be more in line with their previous activity than a five- or six-year deal for Valdez would be.
The Orioles have opened the checkbook a few times this offseason, most notably on their $155MM Pete Alonso signing. RosterResource projects their 2026 payroll at $149MM, about $10MM below where they began the ’25 season. Alonso, Tyler O’Neill and Samuel Basallo are their only players signed beyond this season. O’Neill’s deal is up after 2027, while Basallo doesn’t make a salary north of $4MM until 2030 (the final year of Alonso’s contract).
He looks good in orange and black
Who doesn’t?
2019 Chris Davis
Barry zito save for one game
You win for the C. Davis comment.
Chris Sabo, Sammy Sosa, Albert Belle, Doug Drabek, Kent Mercker, Dustin Duchsherer (don’t care enough bout him to look up how to spell his name correctly), Glenn Davis, Andy Van Slyke, Daniel Cabrera, Sidney Ponson, Deivi Cruz, Harold Reynolds, Dwight Evans….do you want me to go on?
Albert Belle looked GREAT in black and orange whenever he put on the jersey.
The issue was that he wasn’t able to wear it after a season or two.
Belle was actually still a good player and brought the fire to the O’s, it’s debatable if that fire was good or bad
I would add basically every 2004 orioles pitcher for bungling that spending spree
Albert Belle was an insult to Baltimore and its fans. That joker didn’t deserve to be on this team.
HORRIBLE player. Yeah he could hit, but was an awful PLAYER. We don’t need that kind of “fire” here.
That’s Sir Sidney Ponson
Sirloin more like.
If he signs with the Os he’d complete the orange cycle.
Going to the Dodgers for $15 million, $1m signing bonus, $4m salary for 26 and $10m deferred to be paid seven days after his death to his estate…
dbith
This. But without the dumb deferral joke.
That’s actually an ingenious thing to do if you already got money im sure the player could use it as a massive tax benefit
The player wont b paying taxes at that point as hes dead. The heir would b hit with taxes. It would be far smarter to receive the $ prior to death to try and add it to I assume an already created future trust that someone with his network would have.
Tiger, it was a warped attempt at humor given the current state of the Dodgers’ payroll. No need to over analyze.
Normally I welcome the humor. The deferral thing has become an entire different animal. Its incomprehensible how many are so financially illiterate they don’t understand the basic fundamentals of the time value of $ associated with deferrals. Its kind of scary as its the same principals behind 401Ks. Considering Social Security u soon will have to outlive avg life expectancy, there seems to b way too many bot understanding the power of compounding over time.
Im glad it was humor, your comments always give me a sense of someone who knows what hes talking about for most part. U do a good job handling a certain manic BOS fan.
omg an mlbtraderumor post thats actually a rumor
how they name their page “rumors” and only like 2% of posts are rumors is odd
Their whole site has always been copy and paste news from Twitter/X.
I don’t mind the one stop shop though
Like a cable package!
ud
And I don’t have to be support Elon
Works for those that don’t do social media.
I want to start up an unsocial media.
Old folks and their dislikes being the focus. No likes. Recommendations on travel to unpopulated spots, and bad reviews on places with crowds.
I think there’s an old man who already has some so-called social media like that.
Figures.
My best ideas usually are previously owned by others. Probably has epic old man rants, which I find hilarious.
@nick Are you truly that miserable that such a thing would irritate even to the point of creating this comment and possibly more?? Maybe u should find a WNBA page…..
Tigers
“Maybe u should find a WNBA page…..”
What’s that mean? Feel free to be specific
It means since he obviously is not into MLB news maybe another sport would b more his speed. I figure WNBA is about as far as one can get without saying something offensive like soccer…
As an O’s fan, this news stings a bit.
Time to write off the Orioles – just not interested in putting a rotation that can top the AL; they’re trying to lowball Framber, playing coy with Gallen, but pack the starting 5 with Eflin & Verlander? C’mon…
Didn’t they just do this bit last year with Charlie Morton?
Why don’t we check in on Jamie Moyer? Surely he’s now rested and available, and old enough to be in the Orioles rotation.
Rich Hill!
I wanted Verlander over Morton a year ago. I’d really like neither now. Verlander is one of my favorite pitchers of this era. I’d like to see him start a game for the O’s because of that but there’s no baseball logic to support it.
We need a real TOR guy.
Bartolo Colon is available and will pinch hit on days off.
On days off, Colon will be parked next to Boog’s BBQ
The Jamie Moyer reference is awesome.
Y’all meant to post this 10 years ago right? Right?!
Giolito is a much better fall-back option with a higher ceiling.
Have to agree with a few previous posts. I mean c’mon, they can’t be serious trying to take on the rest of the east with a half arsed rotation? It’s ludicrous and either the gm or owner is at fault here.
Sounding like Mike didn’t learn his lesson last year. Sign Framber or trade for Gore, Peralta, or Pivetta.
I can’t wait to hear how the FO goofed on Ranger Suarez. There is no reason why the Orioles couldn’t beat the offer.
…time will tell, but time is running.
I still believe Elias will hat-rabbit something. His best work has been done on the QT when it comes to getting SP.
130 million is insane for a guy who has had back issues, never threw 160 innings, and lost velocity.
Suarez is only throwing 90-91mph now. Not expecting that contract to age well when he drops into the 80s.
It’s insane the Orioles haven’t addressed their biggest need…for years.
I’m not going to go back and forth with you about Rangers stats; we can pick the player apart through statistics of his attributes/negatives, each having good points about the players ‘possiable’ outcomes based on his ‘previous’ performance. It all irrelevant though…
Mike either acquires the ‘TOR arm’ he said he was looking for…or he doesn’t.
It’s binary.
How much, how long, and who…secondary issues to the Primary of actually getting what your looking for.
Stymedone — And Rangers ERA in the post season? Have you seen how he doesn’t wilt in pressure situations and get his head spun, but rather focuses more and gets better under pressure.
No player is without their warts.
But the Orioles are without their ‘top priority’. Again.
Dodgers are paying 120 million a year for Kyle Tucker…who wasn’t a priority. The Orioles can spend that over 4 years for their ‘top priority’.
You get what you pay for; don’t spend s__t, don’t get s__t. Rule of life.
Saying the Orioles are better off without a TOR player is … hard to argue, at the least.
If they sign him, both Blue Jays and Red Sox fans can breathe a sigh of relief, because this would definitely hurt the O’s.
Without knowing a whole lot about Verlander’s clubhouse presence, I still got to,think he offers valuable veteran leadership for a budding rotation.
I love me some Verlander, but, even though he looks to still have maybe a season or so left in him, this is not the signing my O’s need. Not if they know Eflin is going to immediately start the season on the IL, or if they hadn’t already signed him altogether, then sure, signing JV ain’t a bad idea to finalize the back end of your rotation.
I would say its merely playing hard ball with Valdez and Gallen but its so blatantly obvious that I don’t think its even worth floating the rumor out there. And I’m not sure why you would even try to play hardball with free agents after Rubenstein has shown willingness to spend.
Thought he’d return to Houston but Baltimore makes sense at this point.
Would very much like this to happen. A strong veteran presence to hold this team accountable. I still think thy could add JV and still pursue Valdez/Gallen. Do we really think Eflin is going to hold up and also many are just assuming Kremer fits in the starting 5 but he’s been so inconsistent in terms of continued quality offerings that he could still get pushed out IMO either via minor trade or long man.
What a great signing of an emerging young talent. Go get him Os. Can’t wait to see this new band next week: the Killers. Hear theyre playing the Howard Dean victory party the night of the Iowa caucuses. Can’t wait
Polar bear and iceberg?
In his last 7 starts Verlander pitched 41.1 innings with 38ks and an Era of 1.96.He still has it.
Only team left with orange in the team colors that he hasn’t played for. It’s gotta happen.
When the Tigers trade Skubal, which is seeming to be increasingly likely, they should sign Verlander to soak up innings along with whichever top young pitcher they get in the return package. Having a Detroit legend back in a Tigers uniform will help soften the blow of Skubal leaving. I doubt Elias gets involved on Skubal.
If Skubal wants to be in Detroit like he says, then he needs to stop talking and do what JRam did in Cleveland…sign a hometown discount to stay where you want to be. Whatever he signs will be the most money EVER for a pitcher. What difference does $350 million or $450 million make to one person? You can’t spend that in a lifetime. It is ridiculous that sports players get paid these amounts. $450 million for one player screws a team for 10 years and they scrimp to fill the rest of the roster.
Harris said last year when Bregman snubbed them that they want players who WANT TO BE THERE. That is how successful teams are built…a group of guys who want to play together and pull for each other. It seems that Skubal is saying the right things about staying but on the other hand what he is doing doesn’t support that. It comes to this: if he wants out ask for a trade; if he wants to stay fire Boras and get your boatload of money without crippling the team moving forward. Baseball is a team sport.
I agree. Tigers have to show some good will toward their fans since they are obviously going to let Skubal walk. Sad.
I’ve read every article I can find on the Skubal saga and I don’t think the Tigers are solely to blame here. If Skubal wants to stay then its time for him to step up. It takes two to tango and it’s hard to dance with someone when Boras keeps cutting in.
I want Verlander to come to Houston. But as long as he goes to a competitive team I’m fine. Orioles are competitive. Still, I think Baltimore should go for a top starter like Valdez.
I could see Verlander going to the Braves. They need a one-year mid-rotation veteran.
I wish Verlander would just hang it up. I hate seeing players continue on and limp to the finish line. Someone needs to tell him he isn’t winning 300 games.
Tigers or retire.
That would be very Mike Elias
Getting spicy over a 43-year-old starter isn’t a Rich Hill upon which to die, but given an applicable open slot can anyone explain why Spectrum Scott Harris prefers:
* Alex Cobb’s expired arm over JV’s;
* an empty locker over JV.
Did they ask Jim Palmer if he’s still got it while they were at it.
Typical Orioles: “WE’RE GOING AFTER FRONT OF THE ROTATION STARTERS! Honest, we really, really, really mean it this time!”
The typical Orioles results: “He’s Shane Baz a mid rotation starter at best, Zac Eflin again back from a wonky back, and maybe another 40+ year old guy.”
Typical Orioles PR after the lack of a front line starter deal: “We really like our guys! Kyle Bradish has given us ace-type performance before (they will leave out the fact that he hasn’t done it for a full season because of all the injuries) and Trevor Rogers was electric last season (the only time he’s ever pitched like that, and again, not for a whole season. He didn’t even make the team out of spring training.). After that we’ve added some deep depth with guys in house and we brought Eflin back. He looks like he’s healthy again and did well before that back creeped up on him last season.
Then they wonder why they can’t compete with the upper tier teams and you have a collapse like last year. PITCHING!!!!!!!