The Detroit Tigers and veteran starting pitcher Justin Verlander have come to terms on a 1 year, $13M contract to bring the 3x Cy Young award winner back to the Motor City.
The soon to be 43 year old spent the first 13 seasons of his MLB career with the Tigers, before he went on to have stints with the Astros, Mets, and Giants. Over the course of his 20 year career, Verlander has accumulated 3,553 strikeouts, and 266 wins, putting him in elite company amongst the all-time greats of the game.
Most would assume that this would be a farewell tour of sorts, however Verlander has previously stated that he hopes to pitch until he’s 45, which lines up with roughly how much longer he’d need to hit 300 career wins.
The 9x All-Star will join a rotation that features Tarik Skubal, and the recently signed Framber Valdez. Valdez was a teammate of Verlander’s during the 2017 & 2018 seasons while they were both members of the Astros organization. The starting rotation figures to be rounded out by Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize, giving the Tigers one of the best starting 5’s across the Majors.
Reese Olson figures to mix in for starts as well, though there are now questions as to whether he’ll be available for the start of the season as he continues to deal with lingering shoulder issues.
Verlander’s stint with the Giants in 2025 oscillated between extreme highs and lows. At one point, the veteran right hander was at risk of being benched in San Francisco, but managed to right the ship, finishing with a 3.85 ERA and 137 Ks across 152IP.
His advanced numbers show the tale of two seasons, as he posted a 2.60 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate, and 7.8% walk rate across his final 72.2IP. He clocked in at roughly the league average with an 11% swinging-strike rate, while his fastball averaged out to 93.9MPH on the season.
By signing both Valdez, and Verlander, coupled with the team losing their arbitration filing on Skubal, Detroit now finds themselves roughly $12M over the $244M luxury tax threshold. As a result, they’ll pay a 20% tax on the net-present value of Verlander’s deal, and push the club into previously unseen financial waters.
The late flurry of activity has also vaulted Detroit into the betting favourites to win the AL Central in 2026, with odds landing somewhere between +115 and +135 depending on which sports book you frequent. Despite that push, bettors aren’t as bullish on the team’s World Series odds, as the team clocks in at 12th at +2200, with 6 AL teams alone ranked ahead of them on the futures market.
The Tigers will officially kick off team activities tomorrow as pitchers and catchers are set to report for Grapefruit League action on February 11th.
Photo: Roger DeWitt. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.