Mets’ Justin Verlander excelling at right time with MLB trade deadline near
Justin Verlander is peaking just in time to enhance his trade value.
Whether the right-hander gets dealt ahead of next Tuesday’s deadline is another matter altogether, but teams in need of pitching have every reason to at least check in with the Mets, especially given Verlander’s work over the last five weeks.
On Tuesday he had a second straight superb outing, with six shutout innings in the Mets’ 9-3 victory over the Yankees in The Bronx.
Verlander allowed two hits and walked four with six strikeouts, departing at 98 pitches.
The Mets certainly needed the boost after successive clunkers by Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco to close the weekend in Boston.
In his previous outing, Verlander held the White Sox to one earned run over eight innings.
“The one thing you know is when you’re right how it looks,” Verlander said. “How guys are perceiving your stuff in the batter’s box and when it’s not right it makes it really hard.”
Buck Showalter reconfigured his rotation alignment after the All-Star break in part to give Verlander an additional start in July, before the trade deadline.
That start is scheduled for Sunday against the Nationals.
Verlander, 40, would have to waive his no-trade clause for any potential deal.
There is also the matter of the two-year contract worth $86.6 million (with a vesting option for 2025) that Verlander signed before the season and whether the Mets would swallow enough of the remainder to make a trade worthwhile.
But Verlander said he hasn’t been approached by general manager Billy Eppler about a potential trade.
“I’m just focused on what’s ahead of me and I would hope if there’s any chance [of a trade] that Billy would come and talk to me,” Verlander said. “That hasn’t happened. I am focused on being a Met. That is why I signed here. I want to win here. Obviously it hasn’t gone according to plan just yet, but I didn’t sign a one-year deal.”
On this night his ERA fell to 3.24 — the lowest it has been following an outing for the Mets since his second start of the season.
Over his last eight starts (which began with a strong performance against the Yankees on June 14) he has pitched to a 1.98 ERA.
Verlander missed the first five weeks of the season rehabbing a teres major strain in his right arm and struggled for much of May into June before beginning this surge.
DJ LeMahieu walked three times against Verlander, but each time the right-hander responded — most notably in the fourth when he struck out Harrison Bader and Billy McKinney to conclude the inning.
“I enjoy pitching here, it’s fun,” said Verlander, who has pitched at Yankee Stadium in the postseason with the Tigers and Astros. “All eyes are on you and big moments … a lot of fond memories on my behalf here.”