What Must Verlander Achieve For His Tenure to Be a Success with San Francisco Giants?

The San Francisco Giants get their season started on Thursday afternoon with Opening Day kicking off a road series against the Cincinnati Reds.

It's the dawn of a new era in the Giants organzation with loads of new faces, new decision makers, and of course new players.

One of those new players just so happens to be one of the most legendary pitchers in the history of the game in future Hall of Fame star Justin Verlander. Now 42 years old however, it could be a swan song of sorts for the three-time American League Cy Young winner.

Despite his age, 2024 was really the first year where Verlander has struggled in terms of numbers during seasons where he was at least able to be on the field. His 5.48 ERA over 17 starts while dealing with serious neck problems throughout the year seemed to potentially mark the end of his legendary career.

Instead, Verlander winds up with one more shot on a one-year deal in San Francisco and will look to regain his form in order to help a young Giants rotation in need of someone to step up.

The important thing for the 20-year veteran is that he is not going to be asked to shoulder the load as the team's ace as he has throughout his career.

In an ideal world, Logan Webb has another tremendous year and Robbie Ray gets back to form, allowing Verlander to simply be a No. 3 starter after so many years of being the top guy.

While of course San Francisco would love it if he was the kind of superstar he's been throughout the duration of his career, they don't need him to be in order to have a strong rotation.

If they could get the 2023 version of Verlander, or at least close to it, when he had a 3.22 ERA over 27 starts both for the New York Mets and Houston Astros, it would be an absolute dynamite asset to have stuck in the middle of the rotation.

In reality, the bar is not very high for Verlander's stint with the Giants to be considered a success.

Nobody's asking him to have another Cy Young season, they are simply asking for him to justify the somewhat hefty $15 million contract he signed under the premise that he would be able to stay healthy and help the team.

If he could give the team around 20 or 25 starts and be the best version of himself that can realistically be asked for at the age of 42, nobody will be upset that San Francisco took a chance on him.

Should things go extremely well and the Giants are playing meaningful games down the stretch, having someone like Verlander in the fold is going to be something they are absolutely thankful for.

Chances are as he has done so many times in those moments, he would shine and help the team win.

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