The Mets Must Win the World Series After Signing Justin Verlander
After signing Verlander, the pressure is on Mets GM Billy Eppler to do whatever it takes to build a World Series–winning roster.
Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports
Justin Verlander finished his introductory press conference Tuesday and checked his watch. This was mostly a function of logistics: He had a flight to catch. But it also served as an apt metaphor: Verlander, who will turn 40 in February, and the Mets are on the clock.
GM Billy Eppler likes to talk about sustainability, but New York ran out the third-oldest lineup (29.7 years old, on average) and oldest pitching staff (31.2) last season. Then it added Verlander, lefty starter José Quintana (who will pitch next season at 34), righty starter Kodai Senga (30), righty reliever David Robertson (38), lefty reliever Brooks Raley (35) and catcher Omar Narváez (31). Thirty-eight-year-old Max Scherzer, with whom Verlander will form the most accomplished top-two in the sport, can opt out of his contract after this season. Meanwhile, the juggernaut Dodgers lost shortstop Trea Turner, third baseman Justin Turner and lefty starter Tyler Anderson and have not done much to replace them. The Mets’ time is now.
You could have argued their time was last season, as many people (including me) did. Righty Jacob deGrom, at worst the third-best pitcher the Mets have ever produced, announced last March that he planned to opt out of his contract after 2022, and the front office knew all along that he might not return. (Indeed he did not; earlier this month he signed a five-year, $185 million deal with the Rangers.) Eppler whiffed at the trade deadline, failing to shore up a banged-up lineup, and the team squandered a seven-game lead in the National League East when its top three pitchers could not hold off Atlanta. The Mets limped into the NL wild-card series against the Padres and lost in three games.
The Mets should have gone for it at the deadline last season, before deGrom deCamped to Texas. But with the additions of Verlander and Senga, plus the re-signings of center fielder Brandon Nimmo and closer Edwin Díaz, they pried their window open another year. Heptadecabillionaire team owner Steve Cohen has shown he is willing to blow past all levels of luxury-tax penalties: The Mets’ projected luxury tax payroll is up to $363 million, according to RosterResource, putting them $130 million above the threshold. The overage itself would be higher than the payroll of 11 other teams. But with the notable exception of two-way star Shohei Ohtani, the free-agent class of 2023–24 lacks the firepower of this one.
In short, it’s World Series or bust for the 2023 Mets. That makes Verlander a good fit for this team, which signed him earlier this month to a two-year, $86.7 million deal with a conditional player option for ’25. He was the third-oldest starting pitcher in the game last year, but he and Eppler both said that he cares for and understands his body well enough to pitch effectively into his 40s.
Verlander also missed more than a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020; those months of rehab, he says, offered him a chance to rest and completely changed the way he prepares. “When I look back at that surgery, I’m going to look back on it so fondly,” he said Tuesday.
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Still, he understands his career is nearing its end. He speaks openly of wanting to win 300 games, a total he will likely need to play three more seasons to achieve. He has won the American League Rookie of the Year award, in 2006 with the Tigers; the AL MVP award, in ’11 with the Tigers; three AL Cy Young awards, in ’11 with the Tigers and in ’19 and ’22 with the Astros; and two World Series, in ’17 and ’22 with the Astros. Trying to explain Tuesday what still motivates him, he landed on this: “Why would I put in all that time and effort and work and sacrifice and sell myself short at the end? It’s like running a marathon and stopping a mile from the finish line.” He grinned and added, “Maybe I’m 10 miles from the finish line.”
Maybe he is. But the Mets are not.
Editors’ note, Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 2:35 p.m. ET: The projected payroll figures in this story have been updated to include Adam Ottavino, who reportedly agreed to a two-year, $14.5 million deal with the Mets after this column was initially published.
