Why reported Verlander agreement makes sense for Giants, Posey

Why reported Verlander agreement makes sense for Giants, Posey originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — It has been just over 12 years since Justin Verlander stood on the mound at Oracle Park and mouthed “wow” after Pablo Sandoval stunned him for the second time in a World Series game. That’s an eternity in professional sports, and the man who was on deck for that at-bat is proof of that.

In 2012, Buster Posey was a young Giants catcher who was about to be named the National League MVP and was finishing his first uninterrupted full season in the big leagues. He’s now running the organization, but Verlander, incredibly, is still taking the ball every five days. With his first big pitching addition as president of baseball operations, Posey asked his former opponent to do so for the Giants in 2025.

Verlander will turn 42 during spring training, but he’s not ready for the golf course. Like many future National Baseball Hall of Famers before him, he’ll force them to tear the jersey away. The right-hander is about to embark on his 20th season and he’ll do so in San Francisco, according to ESPN, which first reported the one-year contract agreement and the $15 million salary.

It’s a splashy move for Posey, but also one that made a lot of sense at this point in the offseason.

Posey and general manager Zack Minasian have spent more than two months trying to add to their rotation, with a notable pursuit of Corbin Burnes, an offer to Shane Bieber and plenty of conversations with other veterans. Burnes could have vaulted the Giants back into the thick of the wild-card race, and others who have come off the board would have given the Giants a lot more certainty, but on Jan. 7, it’s easy to see why Verlander became the right fit among the remaining options.

The Giants are in a bit of an odd position with their rotation. They have more than five starters they like and Posey is intrigued by his collection of young pitching, but there also are a lot of question marks with the group. They needed more certainty for 2025 and also more upside, and Verlander provides that.

The 2024 MLB season was a rough one for Verlander, who saw his fastball velocity dip and his ERA balloon to 5.48. But a year earlier, he had a 3.22 ERA in 27 starts for the New York Mets and Houston Astros. In 2022, at the age of 39, he posted a 1.75 ERA and won his third Cy Young Award.

It wouldn’t be reasonable for the Giants to expect anything close to that, but even a duplication of what he did in New York in 2023 — 3.15 ERA, a tick under six innings per start — would put the Giants in a better position. They are betting that Verlander and Robbie Ray can return to some semblance of their old form, and while it’s a risk, it’s also not the worst idea to place your chips on pitchers who not too long ago were Cy Young winners.

The Verlander addition is not, however, just about what happens on the mound. The future co-ace in San Francisco is not someone in his 40s, but it’s potentially Kyle Harrison, who needs his fastball to be great in order to dominate. Who better to mentor Harrison than a pitcher who in his prime had one of the most effective four-seamers an MLB starter has ever had? And who better to sit with Hayden Birdsong, a young right-hander with electric stuff but issues harnessing it? Or Landen Roupp or Mason Black or Carson Whisenhunt. The Giants didn’t bring Verlander in just to be a mentor, but their young staff certainly should benefit.

That young group of pitching also will provide cover in case last season really was the beginning of the end for Verlander. Posey did not intend to continue Farhan Zaidi’s tradition of signing pitchers to short-term deals, but the market dried up and the commitment to Verlander is just for one year. If he struggles, it won’t be hard to pull the plug, and there will be plenty of options.

Verlander slides in somewhere behind Logan Webb and alongside Ray and Jordan Hicks for now. The Giants can hold a competition in camp to see who emerges for the fifth spot, with Harrison and Birdsong entering as the favorites. Regardless of what happens before April, they know they’ll probably need a dozen options to get through a full season.

Verlander now is part of that group, and he’s by far the most famous member. That also likely made him a fit for Posey, who started his tenure by reminding everyone that the Giants are in the memory-making business.

Nobody can know right now how much he has left in the tank, but there’s no doubt that Verlander will be a bigger draw when he first wears orange and black than most, if not all, of the remaining veterans left on the market. He’ll be interesting, at the very least, and he’ll have a chance to make new memories at Oracle Park, which he’ll surely appreciate a bit more than the ones from a dozen years ago.

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