Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander will turn 43 in the offseason, but he’s been vocal at multiple points — both this year and in the past — about wanting to continue pitching into his mid-40s. He said as much in early August, and Verlander doubled down on that desire this week in an interview with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Manager Bob Melvin and young outfielder Drew Gilbert both lauded Verlander and what he brings to the team when chatting with Nightengale, and the sentiment runs further up the chain. President of baseball operations Buster Posey told Markus Boucher and Todd Husak of KNBR just yesterday that he’d like to being Verlander back for another season (audio link).

“Yeah, definitely,” Posey said when asked whether his team would have interest in a reunion. “It’s something we’ll have to discuss, but [we do] for a multitude of reasons. He’s been a great teammate. He’s helped some of our younger guys learn how to prepare, and he just sets an example by going out and performing, continuing to show up. So yeah, it’s definitely something we’d be open to.”

Verlander’s season got out to a bit of a rocky start, but he’s dialed the clock back and looked almost ageless over the past couple months. His season-long 3.75 ERA in 141 2/3 innings pitched is impressive for anyone, let alone a 42-year-old, but his recent work looks straight out of 2009-14.

Dating back to July 23, Verlander touts a sparkling 2.17 ERA in 62 1/3 innings. He’s whiffed 23.2% of his opponents along the way and limited walks at an 8.1% clip. Even more incredibly, he’s allowed just three total runs over his past five starts — a span of 31 innings. Verlander has held his opponent scoreless in four of his past seven trips to the mound, averaging better than six innings per start along the way. The 24-year-old Gilbert, speaking with Nightengale, called Verlander’s current run “inhuman” and discussed how surreal it is to be sharing a clubhouse with “one of the greatest pitchers of all-time” and someone he’s been watching for essentially his whole life. Melvin marveled in similar fashion.

“I get to talk about about (Verlander) and a milestone and him passing somebody – Gaylord Perry, Walter Johnson – almost every start now,” the veteran skipper said. “…To be pitching this well late in the season, with this much under his belt at this point, it’s pretty remarkable.”

While Verlander’s performance in 2025 — particularly down the stretch — should lead to substantial offseason interest both from the Giants and pitching-needy clubs around the league, it’s still difficult to imagine anyone guaranteeing him multiple years. That said, he’ll be coming off a far better season this winter than he was last offseason. Verlander’s final year in Houston saw him make 17 starts with a 5.48 ERA in 90 1/3 innings. This year’s rebound should allow him to secure a comparable, if not larger salary than the $15MM guarantee he received with the Giants for the 2025 campaign.

Verlander has already received a qualifying offer in the past, so the Giants won’t have the option to make him one following the season. Given the right-hander’s age and his outside shot at reaching 300 wins in his career — he’s currently 35 victories short but has previously expressed interest in pitching until he’s 45 — it’s fair to presume that Verlander will limit himself to contending, win-now clubs. It also stands to reason that there’ll be more competition for his services this offseason than there was last time around. The Giants clearly have interest, but they’ll be far from his only suitor.

Justin Verlander‘s 20th big league season hasn’t been one of his standout years, as he now has a 4.53 ERA over 99 1/3 innings following today’s tough outing (five earned runs on 11 hits and a walk over five innings) against the last-place Nationals.  Between these numbers and the 5.48 ERA Verlander posted over 90 1/3 frames during his injury-marred 2024 season, it is easy to speculate that time has finally caught up to the future Hall-of-Famer.

However, Verlander wants to keep going, telling the San Francisco Standard’s John Shea that he wants to return in 2026.  This isn’t exactly new news since Verlander has previously indicated that he would like to pitch into his mid-40s, and he turns 43 in February.  However, he did attach some injury-related caveats to his plans, which makes sense given the health concerns Verlander has dealt with in recent years.

“At this point in my career, if something goes really wrong, I’m not going to rehab a surgery or anything,” Verlander said.  “I always understand that it could be it, but I think physically, I’ve shown some good health this season.  As I’ve been on the mound, things have started to get better and better.  To me, that’s a good sign with all the work I put in after my nerve injury last year, which notoriously takes a long time.  The ball’s rolling in the right direction, and I would like to continue pitching.  You never know.  It’s a fickle game too, but I think the stuff is still there.”

The Giants signed Verlander to a one-year, $15MM free agent deal last winter, as San Francisco chose to invest in Verlander’s history rather than his more immediate struggles in 2024.  The right-hander had a 4.33 ERA over his first 52 innings before a pectoral strain cost him about a month of playing time from mid-May to mid-June.  Verlander’s overall production has been about the same since returning from the 15-day IL, though it seemed like he was turning a corner by posting a 2.66 ERA in the 23 2/3 innings prior to today’s clunker against Washington.

While a lost month isn’t insignificant, it is understandable that Verlander is a lot more confident about his health now than he was last year, when he was limited by both early-season shoulder problems and then his nerve injury in his neck.  Verlander admitted last September that he probably tried to return too quickly from his neck problem, and his lack of results led the Astros to leave him off their playoff roster.  Comparatively speaking, a pec strain is a much less serious type of injury, and if Verlander can get through the remainder of the 2025 campaign in good shape, it will line him up well to explore a return for next year.

Another one-year contract seems inevitable given Verlander’s age, and what could be two years of unimpressive numbers if he can’t get things turned around during the rest of the Giants’ schedule.  Beyond just the bottom-line ERA, Verlander’s Statcast numbers have a troubling amount of blue shade, with below-average strikeout and walk rates.  The latter statistic is notable since Verlander hadn’t posted a below-average walk rate since 2017 — he had a very impressive 5.3 BB% during the 2018-24 seasons.

As much as front offices are more concerned with future performance rather than past results, Verlander’s track record is hard to ignore.  He was still posting elite numbers as recently as 2022, when he won his third career Cy Young Award to help lead the Astros to a World Series title (for the second ring of Verlander’s career).  The righty followed that year up with a less-elite but still impressive 2023 season that saw Verlander deliver a 3.22 ERA across 162 1/3 innings with the Mets and Astros, though his strikeout rate dropped off dramatically this year and has yet to recover.

Chances are another team will take a shot at signing Verlander to see if he can recapture a bit of his old magic in his age-43 season.  Playing for a contender will surely be at the top of Verlander’s priority list, so a return to San Francisco could hinge on whether or not the former ace thinks the Giants are ready to turn the corner and make a playoff push in 2026.  The Giants were reportedly open to trading Verlander before the deadline, as part of the team’s desire to move some short-term veteran contracts.

There is no doubt Verlander will be heading to Cooperstown when he eventually hangs up the cleats, but sticking around for another season will push him even further up several all-time leaderboards.  In recording six strikeouts against the Nationals today, Verlander now has 3503 career Ks, making him the tenth pitcher in MLB history to top the 3500-strikeout threshold.

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.