The Detroit Tigers continue to bolster their rotation — this time with a blast from their past.
Justin Verlander signed a one-year contract to return to the Tigers, with whom he spent his first 13 MLB seasons.
The deal is worth $13 million, according to MLB.com.
Verlander, who turns 43 this month, went 4-11 with a 3.85 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 152 innings over 29 starts last year with the San Francisco Giants.
After a rough first half of last season, Verlander pitched to a 2.99 ERA in 14 starts after the All-Star break.
“I would hope somebody would offer me a contract now,” Verlander told USA Today in September.
“Every day you come to the field for four months, and it’s like, what’s the way out of this? How do I make the adjustment? What do I need to do? What’s wrong? Because clearly something’s wrong. I just have to try to find it. I had a new thought in the bullpen, I took that into the game, and the game results have been what you see.”
This is set to be the 21st MLB season for Verlander, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who is 266-158 with a 3.32 ERA and 3,553 strikeouts over his career with the Tigers, Houston Astros, Mets and Giants. He won two World Series with Houston.
Verlander went 183-114 with a 3.49 ERA over his initial stint with Detroit from 2005-17, during which he won American League MVP and Cy Young in 2014.
He has said he hopes to pitch to age 45 or beyond.
Verlander now joins a Detroit rotation headlined by back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and that added All-Star left-hander Framber Valdez on a three-year, $115 million contract last week.
Verlander and Valdez were teammates in Houston for parts of six seasons, including on the 2022 team that won the World Series.
Jack Flaherty and Casey Mize round out the Tigers’ suddenly star-powered rotation.
The recent signings of Valdez and Verlander underscore the win-now nature of this season for the Tigers, who made the playoffs in both of the last two seasons and expect to contend in the AL Central this year.
There is added urgency given the impending free agency of Skubal, who was the subject of trade speculation earlier in the offseason.
Last week, Skubal won a precedent-setting arbitration hearing against the Tigers, guaranteeing him a $32 million salary in 2026 after Detroit proposed $19 million.
Skubal’s salary is the highest ever for an arbitration-eligible player, beating Juan Soto’s $31 million agreement with the Yankees in 2024.
