A day after Noah Syndergaard agreed to a one-year/$21 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels, two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander's market continues to heat up.
MLB.com's Jon Morosi says that the Los Angeles Dodgers "have shown interest in Verlander over the past week."
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the Chicago White Sox "are showing strong interest" in Verlander, adding that Rick Hahn and company "plan to be aggressive this winter."
Earlier in the day, David O'Brien of The Athletic reported that the defending World Series Champion Atlanta Braves "have expressed interest" in the former American League MVP as well.
The Dodgers, White Sox and Braves join the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays as reported suitors. Audacy Sports MLB Insider Jon Heyman suggested Tuesday that the Angels could still be an option for Verlander as well. The Houston Astros and Detroit Tigers -- the two teams Verlander has played for in his Hall of Fame-caliber career -- also seemingly have some level of interest in a reunion with the eight-time All-Star.
Verlander did miss the entire 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September of 2020, but reportedly looked excellent at a throwing session last week. The 38-year-old did win the AL Cy Young Award in 2019, his last full season, so it's not surprising there's quite a bit of interest in his services.
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Verlander, per Heyman, is expected to decline the one-year/$18.4 million qualifying offer that the Astros extended to him. That's not much of a surprise given how many interested teams he has. One would think he's in line to land a multi-year deal, as we projected at the outset of free agency.
Heyman says that Verlander is "expected to have a decision fairly soon, perhaps even this week."
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