The San Francisco Giants have themselves a big-name signing in the pitching department. They splashed with Willy Adames at shortstop, and now they're building up their pitching ranks.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Giants have an agreement on a one-year deal with the 42-year-old Justin Verlander who spent last year with the Houston Astros.
Verlander had a poor year last season. He posted a 5.48 ERA, and 9.8 hits/nine innings, and 1.5 home runs/nine innings, all the worst marks of his career, not including his 11.1 innings in his rookie year in 2005. His 1.384 WHIP was the worst mark for him since 2014, and he pitched in just 90.1 innings, the third-lowest mark in his career.
In short, the 42-year-old, three-time Cy Young winner is coming off arguably the worst season of his career, after signing a two-year, $86.67 million deal with the New York Mets in 2023 (before being traded), a two-year, $50 million deal with the Astros in 2022, and a two-year, $66 million deal with the Astros in 2020.
As of yet, the numbers on Verlander's contract have not been released, but it's glaring that he is in decline and this one-year deal is likely to reflect that.