The Houston Astros, after breaking up with Justin Verlander during the winter, brought back their future Hall of Famer on Tuesday in an attempt to win a third World Series together.
The Astros agreed to a deal to re-acquire Verlander from the New York Mets in exchange for two minor leaguers, with the Mets agreeing to pay a significant portion of the $93 million still owed to Verlander through 2025, according to an official with direct knowledge of the deal.
The Astros are sending two minor-leaguers – outfielders Drew Gilbert, the team’s No. 1 prospect, and Ryan Clifford – to the Mets in the trade.
Verlander, who had a full no-trade clause, waived it to return to Houston with the Mets informing him that they may not contend again until 2025. Verlander and his family loved their six years in Houston before he signed a two-year, $86.6 million free-agent deal with the Mets that included a $35 million vesting club option for 2025.
The Mets are expected to pick up $53 million of what’s owed to Verlander.
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Really, he never wanted to leave Houston in the first place, but owner Jim Crane, who’s close with Verlander, declined to match the Mets’ offer.
Now, with the Mets picking up a chunk of the contract, the deal was much more palatable for Crane and the Astros.
Besides, they really need Verlander after losing three starters to injuries and watching the Texas Rangers acquire Max Scherzer, his former Mets teammate, along with starter Jordan Montgomery of the St. Louis Cardinals. Since June 5, the Astros’ starting rotation has yielded a 4.56 ERA, with ace Framber Valdez badly struggling of late. He is yielding a 7.00 ERA in his past five starts, lasting just 3 ⅔ innings in his last start, a 13-5 loss to the Texas Rangers.
“I feel like it’s Opening Day today,” third baseman Alex Bregman told reporters Tuesday after learning of the trade. “My body feels brand new.”
Verlander, who won his 250th game in his last start, has been pitching as good as ever of late. He has a 1.95 ERA in his last nine starts, with a 3.15 ERA this season.
The Astros, 60-47, who are just one-half game back of the Rangers, now believe they’re poised to be in position for another World Series title in what likely could be manager Dusty Baker’s final season. They Astros reinforced their bullpen last week by acquiring closer Kendall Graveman from the Chicago White Sox, who pitched for the Astros the second half of the 2021 season.
Now, with the band back together, the Astros will be trying to cement their legacy as a dynasty after winning four American League pennants and two World Series titles since 2017.
Meanwhile, this is a mess of the Mets’ own making, with neither Fred nor Jeff Wilpon to blame.
Nevertheless, it seemed for all the world that Billy Eppler was channeling the senior Wilpon’s objective of “playing meaningful games in September,” when the general manager said, “We’re going to have a competitive team [in 2024],” minutes after the Max Scherzer trade to Texas became official on Sunday.
That is quite the humbling internal assessment of where the organization stands 57 games away from the finish line that was supposed to be represented by a ride through the Canyon of Heroes in November.
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Eppler insisted the Mets, who had traded closer David Robertson for a pair of prospects before dealing Scherzer, are not engaged in “a firesale.”
At this stage of his career, Verlander is about winning another championship.
If he has the chance to go to a contender, it sounds like there’s more than a pretty good chance he would take that route.
“Like I’ve said, I’m committed to winning a championship here, but if the organization decides that’s not exactly the direction they think is the best fit to go for it again next year, then I would be more open to [a trade],” said Verlander, who tipped his cap in response to the standing ovation he received when he was removed from the game with one out in the sixth inning. “If I signed a five-, six-, seven-year deal, that’s very different. You’re kind of along for the ride at that point. When you’re doing short-term deals, that changes things.”
The Mets do need to rebuild their farm system.
But adding pieces that have MLB ETAs from between, say, 2025 and 2027, doesn’t align at all with the current roster.
This is not 1983 when a young core including Doc Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Ron Darling, Wally Backman, Sid Fernandez and Rafael Santana would meld with veterans to cut a swath through the NL for most of the rest of the decade.
The Mets core consists of thirtyish-somethings, including Pete Alonso (29 next season), Jeff McNeil (32), Francisco Lindor (30), Brandon Nimmo (30), and who knows who on the mound? Will they be productive players when newly acquired prospects are ready to make an impact in Queens?
More to the point, will Alonso buy into the vision and sign a long-term extension when he becomes eligible to hit the open market after next season? The Mets may not intend to conduct a liquidation sale, but they may be forced into adopting that strategy between now and spring training.
Eppler said that he does not envision the club being as aggressive in free agency this offseason as they were last winter when the club signed Verlander, Robertson, Kodai Senga and Tommy Pham and re-signed Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino and Nimmo.
But there may be no choice.
If being “competitive” is the realistic goal, then forget seducing Shohei Ohtani.
He’s been there and done that his whole career.
But front-line starters Julio Urias, Blake Snell, Aaron Nola, Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty and the like will be out there and the Mets will need arms.
The organization is in no-man’s land with an older roster. They won’t absorb the pain of a rebuild — the Wilpons could have done that — but the hierarchy seems to acknowledge they can’t buy a championship, either.
That leaves the Met$ on a treadmill … maybe to oblivion.
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