My Favorite Wife: The Justin Verlander Thread

i've seen a couple that were merely cringy/questionable. but a lot of been hair-raising in their unhinged lunacy.

Running tabulation I enjoy checking in on: award shares on Baseball Referencew. With his unanimous Cy Young, Verlander now sits third all-time in CY shares.

1. Roger Clemens (7 wins) - 7.66
2. Randy Johnson (5 wins) - 6.50
3. Justin Verlander (3 wins) - 5.21

He passed five guys this year: Pedro, Carlton, Kershaw, Scherzer, and Maddux.

He should share his secret of how he returned from TJ surgery at age 39 (looking twice that) with his lowest ERA ever.

You think PEDs? I have to assume that on the cusp of the HOF, and all the financial rewards that go along with that, that he couldn't possibly be that stupid...But then Cano got caught in the homestretch, so who knows? (Verlander also spent time on the IL this year, which would seem at odds with PED use.)

I follow enough other things to be suspicious of people making sudden, late career improvements, yeah.

I don’t think the league is even testing this season cos of the collective bargaining agreement lapsing so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As I say, anything's possible, witness Tatis, who will take years to climb out of this, if he even manages to. (They must have been testing last season for him to have been caught, no?) It's just hard for me to imagine the level of stupidity it would require for Verlander to risk losing the HOF for the sake of two or three extra seasons. I guess it's possible he's someone who just doesn't care about getting in there, but after money, players play for championships, and they play for awards/honors/legacy. Verlander's already rich as God, he's got two WS now, so that last, especially legacy, would seem to me to be what it's all about right now.

Clemens and Bonds presumably had both tons of wealth, honours and promising hall of fame cases before they started on the bad stuff. I don’t know for definite about JV, obviously, it’s just my inclination to suspect it with the way his stats took off, his age and especially his history of injury and surgery.

Clemens and Bonds also played in an era where steroids were really common and nobody had really been punished for using them yet, if Verlander was pitching in that era he'd 100% be using them

That's the difference to me--that Bonds and Clemens and the others did so in 1998-2004, not 2022.

Found this, which I have zero recollection of:

https://www.si.com/si-wire/2013/08/09/justin-verlander-retorts-peds-allegations

Clemens and Bonds also played in an era where steroids were really common and nobody had really been punished for using them yet, if Verlander was pitching in that era he'd 100% be using them

xp that’s what I kept thinking about watching him pitch in postseason too - his velocity was pretty sustained even when he was being drawn out on lots of pitches.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also this, which was maybe a reaction to the above:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/15429713/justin-verlander-asks-changes-ped-rules-dee-gordon-tests-positive

(Made me laugh: "Verlander said he is strict about what he puts in own body. He said his girlfriend, supermodel and actress Kate Upton, has suggested he take some of the vitamins she does, but he refuses unless things are NSF-certified.")

There were definitely lots of people who didn't get caught, including, I'm pretty sure, a handful in the HOF. But I think what we're saying is that using in the year 2000 had no repercussions, not yet. Using in 2022, if you get caught, has major repercussions.

Verlander was Cano gets suspended vs. Verlander when former Tigers teammate Jhonny Peralta got suspended. pic.twitter.com/rnKEdhkeIZ

— Mike Axisa (@mikeaxisa) May 15, 2018

Twitter's demise will be a great gift to every living baseball player.

i will say that i was sort of surprised when i saw Verlander’s face recently. i hadn’t paid too much attention to him in a couple of years. he suddenly looks kind of beefy and bloated around the jowls in a way that i associate with mcgwire, clemens etc.

comeback player of the year (AL)

More like PEDs are making a comeback! (Kidding.)

Steeling myself for when these ads are every other commercial on Houston TV in the autumn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGiKhz_5YFI

Lost, but pretty solid start yesterday: 7 IP, 2 runs, 2 BB, 4 K. Of course hoping for him vs. Scherzer in a crucial September game.

I didn't realize he won his 250th game the other day (and 251st last night)--did that get any attention? There must have been stories about how he'll be the last guy ever to win 250. He turned 40 in February, so 300 seems almost inconceivable. But I wouldn't rule it out completely if he wants to keep going. Ryan pitched till he was 46, Randy Johnson 45, Clemens 44; whether one or all of them got some help, probably.

Carlton lasted to 43, but his was terrible his last two seasons.

"he"

He seems quite ready to play till nobody wants him, so I guess it'll be health and money, in that order--if he's healthy, I'm sure someone will be willing to pay him.

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/baseball/2023/justin-verlander-mets-300-wins-chase-1234730600/

I feel like 300 wins is one of those achievements that'll definitely be accomplished but it'll truly require a Maddux-like level of being consistently injury free and declining slowly vs precipitously.

There's no one under the age of 30 with 100 career wins. Top 3: Berrios (29 yrs old, 81 wins), Marquez (28 yrs old, 65 wins), Giolito (28 yrs old, 60 wins).

I wonder if Verlander's injury troubles the last few seasons have been a trade-off: costing him wins, obviously, but saving him innings and extending his career. If he is serious about 300, I'd do my best to stay in Houston.

Had the game on in the background last night, listening more than watching. Two outs away from a shutout; got a great inning-ending DP early in the game after loading the bases.

Man, that Justin Verlander's a great pitcher.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/lincecum.jpg

(Kidding around here.)

lol

Returns tonight. He was good last year, but how long can he keep this up? Clemens won a Cy Young at 41; probably had some help. Spahn, Johnson, and Ryan were good. Maddux was so-so. I don't know if there are any other relevant comparisons.

he got shelled in his two minor league rehab outings

Didn't know that...I should have included Seaver and Glavine; both so-so at 41. I left out guys like Jamie Moyer and Bartolo Colon--impressive careers, but not the same caliber as the others. Left out Niekro, too, for obvious reasons.

One guy who famously tried to stretch it out and fell apart at 41 was Carlton.

6 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 0 BB, 78 pitches is nice work, even if it is against the nats

8/21 first-pitch strikes is subpar, but maybe even more impressive that he overcame it

260th win, top 10 in strikeouts:

https://www.mlb.com/news/justin-verlander-passes-greg-maddux-for-10th-all-time-in-strikeouts

I agree with the URL here: unlikely but not impossible.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/will-justin-verlander-get-to-300-wins-why-milestone-is-unlikely-but-not-impossible-for-astros-veteran/

6% according to the Favorite Toy. The first necessity is someone who actually cares about getting there, and Verlander does seem to check that box. With the indifference to pitcher wins in the analytic era, it might be more of a curiosity than anything else if he managed to pull it off.

His 0.4 fWAR/-0.1 bWAR so far this season isn't doing him a lot of favors in the projections department.

Which team would be willing to roster him for the sake of vanity counting stats when he's marginally above replacement and in questionable health?

The Angels

Which team would be willing to roster him

most of them?

Has he ever looked worse?

0-3, 6.93 ERA, 39 avg GameScore over last 5 starts against mostly <.500 teams.

Feel like he looks worse every start, maybe he’s not recovering as well as he used to after games

I get this mental image of him, Scherzer, and Kershaw limping to the finish line, waiting to see which one falls down first and withdraws from the race.

The Dodgers want Kershaw to be back and ready for the playoffs. If they need him...good luck, L.A.

I've never seen a more cursed starting rotation predictable outcome.

Has Scherzer been sighted at all? I know DeGrom was throwing quite recently

Verlander struggling since return from IL, only 71 ip for season, so Mets off the hook for $17 mil in '25. Scherzer on IL again, only 39 ip. Cohen's decision to eat money/move on from both last year paved the way for '24 success, with Stearns' smart signings of Severino/Manaea.

— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) September 3, 2024

I was going to include deGrom in that group, but I read he's pitching well in the minors--the finish line still seems a ways down the road for him (unless he just suddenly decides it isn't worth it anymore). Scherzer, not sure what's going on.

Verlander and Scherzer tied as the active leaders in strikeouts with 3,405 (in 3,397 and 2,874 IP, respectively)

(xpost) "Worth it" in terms of what he puts his body through, I should say--obviously, it's really worth it in other ways.

In deGrom's last 254.2 IP (2020-2023), which at one point might've been a not atypical number for a starting pitcher --

397 Ks, 0.734 whip, 192 ERA+, 2.12 ERA