Justin Verlander Signing a Good Move for Tigers

The Detroit Tigers announced today that they’ve signed Justin Verlander to a five-year $80 million contract.

This is great news for Tigers fans after an offseason that has seen the departures of some of the team’s more popular players.

The Tigers’ recent gambles with big contracts haven’t paid off. Dontrelle Willis has been a bust and for as optimistic as he may be, probably won’t earn the last spot in the starting rotation. Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson were given big contracts too and they haven’t panned out either. You can probably throw Magglio Ordonez in that mix, but with the exception of last year, he’s been pretty good.

Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson were traded because of their contracts and the Tigers wanting to reduce their payroll.

Verlander’s signing seems like exactly the kind of thing the Tigers would try to avoid.

But it was exactly the kind of thing that needed to be done.

With Verlander now (arguably) the premier name on the Detroit roster, it became all the more important Dave Dombrowski to lock him up. Aces are always at a premium in baseball and it would’ve been a sad day in Motown if next year Verlander had been lured away for big bucks because Detroit couldn’t pay him enough money.

There are a lot of questions with the Tigers this year on offense, particularly with the departures of Placido Polanco and Granderson. Detroit lacks any real threat of offensive firepower other than Miguel Cabrera and it seems like management is hoping that the team’s veterans will put up good enough numbers to make the team complete.

With the offensive uncertainties, pitching becomes all the more important for the Tigers and it all starts with Verlander. With last season’s 19-9 record and 269 strikeouts, Verlander showed that he’s ready to become the staff ace and this new contract affirms the front office’s belief in him.

Is it a risky move? Sure. It’s that way with any highly-paid athlete. Injuries happen all the time and if the player gets hurt, suddenly that big contract becomes a big waste of money by management. 

Is Verlander worth the risk?

Absolutely.

Sure there’s risk of injury, but Verlander is to just too good a player to let slip away. He wants to stay here and the Tigers made a great move with this signing. If Verlander stays healthy, there’s no question that he’ll deliver.

He’s only 26 and in four full seasons he’s got 65 wins (an average of 16 a season). As one of baseball’s best power pitchers, he strikes out batters with seeming ease. If he puts up strikeouts this year at last year’s pace (he had 269 of them), he’ll be over 1000 by the end of this season (he’s got 746 for his career). Add in Rookie of the Year honors, a no-hitter, and World Series experience and Verlander is the complete package that will live up to the expectations of his contract.

He’ll provide leadership on a somewhat patchwork pitching staff. The rotation this year will likely be Verlander, Rick Porcello, Max Scherzer, Bonderman, and Robertson. Porcello proved he was no fluke in his rookie season and will look to improve in his second year. Scherzer has only been in the league two years and is 9-11 with a 4.12 ERA. Bonderman is coming back from another bout with injuries and Robertson has had more problems than I care to mention in the last few years.

Bottom line—Verlander is the man and any success the Tigers have this season starts with him.

I hope for Verlander’s sake that the offense backs him up and provides enough run support. Last season amidst the team’s struggles at the plate, it seemed Verlander was the only pitcher who got enough run support during his starts.  Jackson was equally as good as Verlander was for much of last season, but only mustered 13 wins because the offense gave him nothing to work with most of the time.  

There are a lot of question marks surrounding the Tigers this year, but for now, fans can relax and look forward to seeing Verlander take the mound on Opening Day for the next several years.