Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander to join Giants on 1-year deal: Source

The San Francisco Giants are likely to go as far as their crop of young pitchers can carry them next season. So it made sense for the club to invest in a future Hall of Famer to help show them the way.

The Giants have agreed to a one-year, $15 million contract with three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, a source confirmed to The Athletic on Tuesday. The deal with the 41-year-old right-hander, which is pending a physical, was first reported by ESPN.

The Verlander signing has strong parallels to the 2009 addition of 45-year-old left-hander Randy Johnson, who won his 300th game in a Giants uniform while finishing out his 22-year career on his way to Cooperstown. Verlander, who will be entering his 20th season, is not chasing such a luminous milestone — he leads all active pitchers with 262 victories — but the 2011 American League MVP and two-time World Series champion is just as assuredly an inner-circle Hall of Famer.

Verlander gives cachet to an organization that remains light on star power and likely won’t be predicted to finish in the upper echelon of the National League West. He’ll be called upon to mentor a group of emerging arms that includes Kyle Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, Keaton Winn, Landen Roupp and Carson Whisenhunt. And while Verlander is no longer a sure bet to front a rotation or serve as a co-ace to Logan Webb, his presence should help to moderate a starting staff that threw the fewest innings in the NL last season.

Verlander is coming off an injury-plagued season that included shoulder and neck issues. He was 5-6 with a 5.48 ERA in 17 starts with the Houston Astros and was not a candidate to appear on their postseason roster. But he’s pulled a career resurgence or two before and is just three years removed from his last Cy Young-winning season in 2022, when he went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA in 28 starts.

He is likely to slot somewhere after Webb and left-hander Robbie Ray — another former Cy Young Award winner seeking a career resurgence. If Harrison and Jordan Hicks round out the rotation, then the addition of Verlander could buy more development time for Birdsong at the start of the season while pushing other starting candidates into bullpen roles.

Although Giants president Buster Posey has expressed confidence in the depth and quality of the club’s young pitchers, their rotation lost a major presence when left-hander Blake Snell opted out of his contract to sign a five-year, $182 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants briefly explored a free-agent match with another Cy Young winner, Corbin Burnes, before he signed a six-year, $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Instead, the Giants will hope to receive a productive season from Verlander, who never lacks for competitive fire and stands to benefit from throwing to Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey while pitching in a home ballpark that will forgive its share of mistake pitches. And even with a planned reduction in payroll from last season, the Giants should have room in the budget to make another move or two to enhance the lineup.

Posey’s primary ambition this winter is to improve a team that finished 80-82 last season while missing the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons. But the former All-Star catcher and rookie baseball executive also has spoken passionately about being in “the memory-making business” and fielding a team that is entertaining as well as successful. It’s a goal he shares with his newly elevated general manager, Zack Minasian, who spoke at the Winter Meetings last month about the value of signing name-brand players who might be on the downslope of their careers.

“It’s never going to be something we understate,” Minasian said. “We wouldn’t bring someone just for name value. We want to make sure they can perform on the field. But in my personal experience, I’ve been fortunate to see players revive their careers when maybe others thought they were done.”

Verlander will find himself back on the same mound where he once started Game 1 of the 2012 World Series for the Detroit Tigers — and wore a look of amazement on his face after surrendering his second home run of the night to Pablo Sandoval, who would go on to hit a third against the Tigers bullpen. Verlander turned his back to the plate and his reaction required no advanced training in lip reading: “Wow.”

A dozen years later, it’s another wow moment for Verlander and San Francisco.

(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)