{"id":466532,"date":"2026-02-10T20:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466532\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:24:11","slug":"tigers-sign-justin-verlander-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466532\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Sign Justin Verlander – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s homecoming season in Detroit. After years of Tigers fans hoping for a reunion with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander<\/a>, the team announced Tuesday that Verlander has been signed to a one-year contract for the 2026 season. The ISE client is guaranteed $13MM, per USA Today\u2019s Bob Nightengale<\/a>, though $11MM of that sum will be deferred and paid out beginning in 2030.<\/p>\n

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Though he\u2019ll turn 43 later this month, Verlander has voiced no desire to call it quits. Rather, he\u2019s previously said he hopes to pitch well into his mid 40s. He\u2019s coming off a solid season at age 42 \u2014 one that started slowly but by the end saw Verlander again pitching like a high-quality big league starter. The right-hander pitched 152 innings for the Giants last season, logging a 3.85 ERA, a 20.7% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 34.5% ground-ball rate.<\/p>\n

Those are solid overall numbers but mask the strength of Verlander\u2019s finish. Over his final 13 trips to the mound, he totaled 72 2\/3 innings with a terrific 2.60 ERA, a 22.8% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. Verlander limited hard contact better than the average pitcher, checked in with a 93.9 mph average on his four-seamer and turned in an 11% swinging-strike rate that was an exact match for the league average. He only picked up four wins during his time as a Giant, hindering his quest to chase down the 300-victory milestone, but that was due more to poor run support and shaky bullpen work behind him than anything Verlander specifically did.<\/p>\n

Verlander returns to what now looks like a stacked Detroit rotation. He\u2019ll reunite with former Astros teammate Framber Valdez<\/a>, who agreed to a three-year, $115MM contract with Detroit just last week. That pair will join ace Tarik Skubal<\/a> as he looks to join Verlander as a three-time Cy Young winner. The rotation will be rounded out by right-handers Jack Flaherty<\/a> and Casey Mize<\/a>,<\/p>\n

A healthy Reese Olson<\/a> would be among Detroit\u2019s top five starters, even with Verlander in tow, but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press suggested last week<\/a> that the 26-year-old righty may not be ready for Opening Day. Olson made only 13 starts last season due to a shoulder strain that apparently is still an issue. There\u2019s no indication he\u2019s looking at a significant absence, but the addition of Verlander provides some depth and pushes Olson into a vastly overqualified sixth starter\/depth role.<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, there\u2019ll be plenty of starts to go around for Olson and other rotation candidates, including promising righty Troy Melton<\/a>. Injuries are inevitable for any team, so there probably won\u2019t be too many stretches of the season where all six of Skubal, Valdez, Verlander, Mize, Flaherty and Olson are all at full strength. Top prospect Jackson Jobe<\/a> could factor into the mix late in the season as well, but he\u2019ll miss the majority of the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery last summer. Even still, simply having someone of Verlander\u2019s stature around to watch and learn from during spring training is an opportunity that Jobe (and other young arms in Tigers camp) will undoubtedly relish.<\/p>\n

Whether coincidence or otherwise, Verlander\u2019s $13MM guarantee matches the $13MM gap the Tigers faced in last week\u2019s arbitration hearing with Skubal. The reigning AL Cy Young winner won that hearing. Perhaps the Tigers wouldn\u2019t have gone quite so deferral-heavy on the contract had the arbitration panel ruled in favor of the team, but that\u2019s a moot point. Either way, Verlander is back with the team that originally drafted him with No. 2 overall pick out of Old Dominion back in 2004, and he\u2019ll continue his longshot quest to become MLB\u2019s 25th 300-game winner.<\/p>\n

Verlander currently sits at 266 wins in his illustrious career, tied with Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 37th-most in the game\u2019s history. He\u2019ll probably need three more seasons to have a chance at reaching the 300 mark, but he\u2019s previously said he hopes to pitch until he is at least 45. Based on last year\u2019s strong finish and his overall rate stats, he still has something left in the tank as he works toward that lofty goal.<\/p>\n

The late additions of Valdez and Verlander will thrust the Tigers into luxury tax territory for the first time. RosterResource\u2019s estimates<\/a> currently have Detroit about $12MM over the $244MM threshold. That means they\u2019ll pay a 20% tax on the net-present value of Verlander\u2019s deal. It\u2019s more than the Tigers have ever spent. Those late moves have positioned the Tigers as a clear front-runner in an AL Central that\u2019s been characterized primarily by inertia this offseason. They took their time, but the Tigers have made it emphatically clear that their sights are set on winning the Central<\/a> and pushing for a World Series win in Skubal\u2019s final season before free agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s homecoming season in Detroit. After years of Tigers fans hoping for a reunion with future Hall of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,7205,462,144872,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-466532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-justin-verlander","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-reese-olson","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}