Astros Re-Acquire Justin Verlander

Astros Re-Acquire Justin Verlander

He’s back. Justin Verlander is going back to Houston. It’s almost like he never left. Shall we call it a four-month vacation in New York? The Mets and Astros have agreed to a trade to send Verlander back to the state of Texas.

Jeff Passan at ESPN was the first to report the news:

The Houston Astros have a deal in place to acquire ace Justin Verlander from the New York Mets, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 1, 2023

Verlander, 40, is 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA on the season thus far in 2023. The former Old Dominion product spent the last five years with Houston before signing with the Mets this offseason. Verlander is already under contract for next season so Houston doesn’t have to worry about bringing him back for 2024. That part has been taken care of.

Obviously, Verlander had a ton of success with the Astros as well. The 6-foot-5 right hander won two World Series with Houston in 2017 and 2022. The Astors are in the mix again to try to repeat and adding Verlander back in the fold certainly helps their cause. It’s also a place that he’s comfortable pitching in and they have great pitching data he relies on. Verlander has a career 2.26 ERA with the Astros, which is just disgusting in a good way.

Passan has followed up and announced the full details of the deal. Drew Gilbert is going to the Mets along with minor league outfielder Ryan Clifford. Gilbert and Clifford are the first and fourth ranked prospects respectively in the Houston system according to MLB.com. That should be considered a home run return given the fact that New York gave up nothing to sign Verlander this offseason. They basically got two really good prospects to send Verlander back to the place where he just won a championship.

A pretty good piece of business by the Mets. It’s hard to hate the prospects they have come away with after having already added Luisangel Acuna in the Max Scherzer deal.

UPDATE:

The Mets are paying a SIGNIFICANT amount of money on Verlander’s deal. It’s pretty obvious now why Houston gave up the prospect package that they did. They’re getting Verlander for pennies compared to what he’s actually making.

The New York #Mets are sending the #Astros about $54 million in the Justin Verlander trade, one executive said, if Verlander's $35 million option in 2025 becomes vested.
Verlander is owed about $93 million, meaning the #Astros would pay Verlander about $29 million for 2 1/3 years

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 1, 2023

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