Justin Verlander’s not predicting the future. That could take his focus away from the present.
He’s also not blowing smoke.
Yes, the Houston Astros right-hander would love to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame one day. Yes, chasing 300 wins might be a reason to extend his career. Yes, at 40, he is acutely aware that each season he plays could be his last.
Further building onto his legacy doesn’t necessarily drive him, but he understands that every action he takes going forward shapes how he’ll be viewed in the future while also serving as an example now. His time in a baseball uniform may be waning, he admits, but it’s not because of a lack of effort or commitment.
“The analogy that I’ve kind of given recently is … let’s say I tell my (4-year-old) daughter I’m training for a marathon. Right? And she sees me for six months wake up every morning and I go out and I start running and she’s involved in that. She sees how much time and effort I’m putting in,” Verlander said. “And then the marathon day shows up and I go run the marathon and then I find myself five miles from the end, or however many miles from the end, and I decide to call it quits. What kind of example would that be?
“I’ve carried myself this far. I’ve worked my ass off. I’ve committed my life to this game and this sport. And I find myself here with I don’t know how much time left. What a disservice it would be to myself, and what a bad example it would be to my family and my daughter particularly, to not carry this thing as long as I can.”
Justin Verlander ‘invigorated by return to Houston Astros
It would be a disservice to Justin Verlander’s impeccable career to call this point in time a renaissance. That would have been more appropriate in 2022, when he returned from missing the entire 2021 season due to elbow surgery rehabilitation to win his third AL Cy Young Award and his second World Series title.
But Verlander admits he has been re-energized this month when he was dealt by the struggling New York Mets, with whom he signed a two-year, $86.7 million deal in December, back to Houston on Aug. 1 to help the Astros try and win consecutive World Series championships.
“There’s a lot of hard things off the field that you know you have to get situated (once traded),” Verlander said. “But on the baseball side of things, yes. Stepping in with a bunch of guys who I know and love and have competed with and won with, of course it’s invigorating.”
Verlander had a full no-trade clause with the Mets that he waived before being dealt to Houston. He said he likely would have waived it for other contending teams if necessary.
When news of Verlander’s return to Houston became official, a wave of enthusiasm rolled through the Astros clubhouse. Videos of Astros players giving testimony to Verlander’s return went viral. No deadline trade was greeted as warmly throughout the game.
“I think it’s a little bit different because guys know me here. I hope that it brings a boost,” Verlander said. “I know a lot of the guys on the team have said so. Which makes me feel happy. Makes me feel nice.”
Astros manager and the sport’s preeminent philosopher, Dusty Baker, agreed with that sentiment.
“We know him, and he knows us. Usually when you get a new player, there’s a period of time if what you heard is true and untrue, and there’s a period of time of feeling each other out,” Baker said. “It’s not like he had any trouble fitting in. Plus, we hated losing him in the first place.”
There’s also the baseball part of this. Verlander had a 1.74 ERA in 28 starts for the Astros last year. He is currently 7-6 with a 3.19 ERA in 16 starts with the Mets and two with Houston. He hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a start since June 20 (against the Astros, coincidentally) and has compiled six quality starts in his last eight outings.
“What we got back is a guy that I can go full bullpen, generally, before he pitches, and full bullpen the day after he pitches,” Baker said. “I mean, that’s big. And he’s a guy when he was here that stopped all losing streaks and prolonged winning streaks.”
Reaching for the 300-win club
The term, “ace” gets tossed around too often in baseball; there are only a few that meet all the requirements. Justin Verlander is one and has been one throughout most of his 18-season career. He’s finished top 5 in AL Cy Young voting nine times, winning three.
He’s signed through 2024 and has a vesting player option worth $35 million in 2025 if he pitches 140 innings next season and undergoes an independent exam to show he has no right arm injury that would preclude him from making the 2025 Opening Day roster.
Therefore, he is relatively set to pitch into his age-42 season. Verlander has said in the past he would like to play until he’s 45. He’s not putting a number on it now.
“I don’t have an age. I don’t have a goal set in mind, per se,” Verlander said. “I’m not saying I’m gonna go out there and make a fool of myself. I’m not gonna pitch shitty, but I’m just as committed and work just as hard now if not harder than I ever have.”
There is one number, however, that may change Verlander’s retirement equation: 300 wins. He currently has 251, by far the most by an active pitcher. Zack Greinke is second with 224, and only two others, Max Scherzer with 213 and Clayton Kershaw with 207, have surpassed the 200-win mark. Based on how the game and starting pitching has evolved, it’s possible Verlander is the final MLB pitcher to accumulate 250 wins.
He most likely would be the last to win 300 if he could get there. That club was last joined by Randy Johnson in 2009 and has only four new members since the turn of the 21st century.
“I think the game will tell me (when to retire),” he said. “Looking forward, the one spot that could be difficult is if I get like really close to 300 or something and the game is kind of telling me it’s time. You know, what do I do? That’s sort of an evaluation I would have to go through.”
Besides that, Verlander continues to pitch simply because he loves the competition. He loves trying to win every time he steps on the mound. He also wants another ring, and the defending champs are resurfacing after a slow start as one of the league’s favorites to win it all.
Houston has won 19 of its first 30 games in the second half, and the acquisitions of Justin Verlander and another former Astro, dependable reliever Kendall Graveman, at the trade deadline have boosted their odds.
Ultimately, whether Verlander wins another ring, another Cy Young Award or 300 games, it doesn’t really matter. The nine-time All Star is already a slam-dunk Hall-of-Famer and should be elected on the first ballot. That sentiment flatters him, but it’s not why he took the ball at 25, 35 or maybe one day 45.
“Look, I’ve never shied away from saying I wanted to be a Hall of Famer and so wanting to be there and then people saying that I am there, doesn’t change me,” Verlander said. “It doesn’t change my mentality at all. You’re still just competing because you love to compete.”
Dan Connolly is an MLB Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.