Giants' Justin Verlander Should Have Plenty of Suitors in Free Agency

With recent success, San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander should have numerous suitors this winter in free agency.

Aug 16, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Justin Verlander (35) during the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Oracle Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Despite a strong start to the season, things have gone in the wrong direction of late for the San Francisco Giants. 

For a good chunk of the year, the Giants were a playoff contender in the National League. This was a team at the All-Star break that figured to be a buyer at the trade deadline. However, the team completely had the wheels fall off after the break and quickly fell to around the .500 mark. With a tough decision to make, the team decided to flip the script and become sellers. 

Due to their struggles, this is proving to be the right move. The Giants showed some signs of improvement, but this is still a team that has some flaws to address. Fortunately, they were able to restock the farm system a bit, and that will help in the long term. As planning for the 2026 campaign has likely begun, San Francisco will have to decide on a veteran pitcher who has performed well for them. 

Jon Morosi recently wrote about veteran starter Justin Verlander earning the opportunity to continue to pitch in 2026 based on the success that he has had of late.

Justin Verlander has a 2.00 ERA over his last 5 starts for the @SFGiants.

He’ll definitely have opportunities to pitch in @MLB next year — at age 43.@MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 21, 2025

Despite being 42 years old, it has been a fairly strong campaign for Verlander in 2025. While he got off to a little bit of a slow start, he has now totaled a 4.23 ERA in 21 starts, which is a very solid number. 

San Francisco signed Verlander to a large one-year deal during the offseason to be a veteran presence and help this team improve. The future Hall of Famer has certainly held up his end of the bargain. However, with a 1-9 record, he deserves a lot more wins than he has. 

Will Verlander Want to Keep Going?

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

For whatever reason, the Giants have struggled to score runs when he starts, and what has been a very good bullpen for much of the year has blown some win opportunities as well. Coming into the campaign, Verlander was certainly hoping to get closer to the 300-win mark, but one win so far this season hasn’t helped with that. 

However, with the recent success and a solid overall year, there is reason to believe that if he wants to continue pitching, there are going to be plenty of opportunities out there for him this coming winter. 

Verlander will likely want to be pitching for a contender with a chance to win if he does decide to come back for another year. The Giants might be an improved team, but the veteran right-hander should have plenty of options.