I’m probably picking an inappropriate time to write this because, as of the time I’m writing this article, Justin Verlander is having his best spring training start so far. He looks really sharp against the Baltimore Orioles today. Still, Verlander himself has openly admitted that spring training doesn’t mean much to him, and for a guy with his experience in durability, why should it? But I wanted to write about this because even though I wouldn’t necessarily consider it a fun hypothetical, it is a hypothetical nonetheless.
I think that we were all filled with a heavy amount of nostalgic warm and fuzzies when Justin Verlander signed to a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers. It made perfect sense. Once Reese Olson went down, they needed a spot in that rotation, and Verlander fills that void. I’ve also said that the exciting thing about this is that it isn’t just a marketing ploy. Yes, I think that’s part of it. People are going to show up to see Justin Verlander start at Comerica Park, but I genuinely think that there is a role for him on this team. I believe that he can contribute to what will hopefully be an excellent year of Detroit Tiger baseball. But I’ve also said that it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a guy who is entering his age-43 season hits a wall.
Verlander has been a unicorn his entire career. There have been multiple instances where you thought that he was starting to trend downward, and he’d find a second or third wind in his career. It’s allowed him to win three Cy Youngs, including two in his mid to late 30s. And as morbid as this hypothetical may be, I do think it’s something we’re thinking about: what happens if Justin Verlander is bad?
Now, there are obviously varying degrees of badness, but let’s say that we get the worst version of Justin Verlander in 2026. I think that the closest we’ve ever seen to a bottoming out of Justin Verlander in his career is the back end of his 2024 season, when he didn’t even make the postseason roster for the Astros. There is depth within this organization, and if things get that bad, they do have a few options. I know the Cubs are well-known for releasing Jake Arrieta after he returned from what was expected to be a one-year retirement tour. I think the Tigers organization is in a much different place than the Cubs were then, and Justin Verlander is a much more beloved piece than Arrieta was.
Verlander has never been a guy who’s pitched out of the bullpen. I don’t think he’s ever been a guy who has much desire to pitch out of the bullpen, but with the emergence of Drew Anderson in spring as that potential swing man roll, if Verlander were to see a significant fall off, I don’t think the bullpen would be the worst thing in the world for him. I think that Justin Verlander in 2014 was totally against the idea of ever pitching out of the bullpen because he felt like he still had a lot of good baseball left in them. He’s about to be 43, and he’s discussed the fact that there’s unfinished business here in Detroit. I think he will do whatever it takes to help that business become successful. If that means pitching out of the bullpen, so be it.
I want to make it very clear: I’m not writing this blog as some fear-mongering attempt. I still think that Verlander will be very good, and I would’ve written this blog regardless of how he looked in spring training. But I think the name, Justin Verlander, comes with certain expectations, and I don’t necessarily know if they are expectations that he’ll be able to reach. That’s no fault of his own. The fact that he’s still pitching at this point in his career is, quite frankly, a miracle. As great as it is to have Justin Verlander as a part of this team, it’s not Justin Verlander‘s team right now. It’s Tarik Skubal‘s rotation until further notice. The bottom line is that, regardless of how he performs, I think the Tigers are going to manipulate this thing to make sure that they avoid any sort of sour ending. Verlander will find his spot.