It’s been a rough few days for fans of the New York Mets, who saw ace Jacob deGrom leave in free agency for a boatload of money from the Texas Rangers. While most rational minds would come to the conclusion that the Mets made a smart baseball decision not to give deGrom the contract he got from Texas, it still created a massive hole on top of their starting rotation. That hole has now been filled after the Mets kicked off the Winter Meetings with a splash by signing Justin Verlander to a two-year deal, SNY’s Andy Martino reports.
Mets have a deal with Justin verlander pending medicals , source says. 2 years with a 3rd year vest .
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 5, 2022
The contract is a guaranteed two-year deal with a vesting option for 2025. Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to confirm the financial parameters of the deal, which will pay Verlander $43 million per year in a similar deal to the one the Mets gave Max Scherzer last winter.
Verlander, 39, is coming off a Cy Young-winning campaign for the Houston Astros where he went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA in 28 starts. There is certainly some age-related risk for Verlander, who will turn 40 in February, but he was the best available option to replace deGrom on a win-now team. The fact that Verlander’s contract is a short-term deal also allows the Mets the potential of two years with him and Scherzer on top of their rotation before resetting after 2024 if necessary.
The other alternative to deGrom is Carlos Rodon, who is 30 years old but will command at least a five-year deal and has a lengthy injury history. Signing Rodon would also have cost the Mets two draft picks and over a million dollars in international slot money, which they likely would have given up if necessary but is an added bonus of signing Verlander instead.
Verlander now should give the Mets the dual ace structure they wanted to employ last year with Scherzer and deGrom, giving them a strong chance to make another playoff run in 2023. There is still work to do, including at least one more starting pitcher and a center fielder if they can’t re-sign Brandon Nimmo, but the Mets did good work to secure the only pitcher available who is a truly suitable replacement for deGrom on the market.
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