Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants finalized a one-year, $15 million contract on Saturday.
A three-time AL Cy Young Award winner, Verlander joins a projected rotation led by All-Star right-hander Logan Webb.
Verlander went 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA in 17 starts for the AL West champion Houston Astros last year. He opened the season on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. He was also on IL from June 18 to August 21 due to neck discomfort.
A right-hander who turns 42 next month, Verlander had a 9.26 ERA in five starts in September and was left off the playoff roster by Houston, which was swept by Detroit in an AL Wild Card Series. He became a free agent after failing to pitch 140 innings, a total that would have triggered his ability to exercise a conditional $35 million player option.
“I definitely feel like I want to keep throwing and competing and I’m not ready to walk away yet,” he said in October.
Verlander, a Virginia native who played college ball at Old Dominion, is 262-147 with a 3.30 ERA in 526 major league starts. He is baseball’s active leader in wins, strikeouts (3,416), innings (3,415 2/3), starts and complete games (26). He is 17-12 with a 3.58 ERA in 38 career postseason appearances.
The 6-foot-5 ace spent over 12 seasons with Detroit. He won his first Cy Young Award and was voted AL MVP after going 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA in 2011.
He was traded to Houston in August 2017 and helped the team win the franchise’s first World Series title that same year. He won two more Cy Young Awards and another championship during his first stint with the Astros.
Verlander signed a $86.7 million, two-year contract with the New York Mets as a free agent in December 2022. The nine-time All-Star made 16 starts for New York before being traded to Houston for two minor leaguers.
San Francisco wide receiver Blake Sabol has been designated to open a roster spot.
In the first offseason since Buster Posey replaced Farhan Zaidi as the Giants’ president of baseball operations, San Francisco also signed a free agent. shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract in December.
