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MLB Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers Need Vintage Justin Verlander To Return In 2015

By @Brad_Faber

JustinVerlander

Joy. R Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Prior to the beginning of the 2013 season, the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander agreed to a reported five-year, $140-contract extension. Unfortunately, in the past two seasons, Verlander has not been quite as dominant as he was in years past.

Verlander, of course, burst onto the scene back in 2006, winning the AL Rookie of the Year award, and then following it up with a great sophomore season in 2007 in which he threw his first no-hitter. Sure, he had a down year in 2008, but he rebounded very nicely, going 78-31 with a 2.95 ERA over the subsequent four years.

Verlander’s best season during that stretch was his 2011 campaign, when he threw his second no-hitter and went 24-5 with an AL-best 2.40 ERA, winning the AL Cy Young and also the AL MVP award. He also led the league in starts (34), innings pitched (251), strikeouts (250), ERA+ (172) and WHIP (0.92).

Since the beginning of the 2013 campaign, however, Verlander has gone only 28-24 with a 3.99 ERA, clearing the way for Max Scherzer to usurp him as the team’s ace. Equally troubling is the fact that Verlander has not thrown a single complete game over the past two years, whereas he threw a grand total of 17 CGs between his aforementioned, dominant stretch between 2009-12.

Obviously, some have attributed Verlander’s struggles to getting older and losing velocity. However, he will still only be 32 years old at the start of next season, meaning that he should still have plenty of baseball left in him. He also reportedly underwent core muscle repair surgery in January of 2014, and some have wondered if that may have had an impact on his overall performance on the mound last season.

With Scherzer now likely to leave via free agency, the Tigers are going to need to get a little bit more out of Verlander in 2015. Yes, the team is also expected to have David Price, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello, but Verlander will still need to do his part as well.

According to Baseball Reference, Verlander is set to begin earning $28 million next season, a figure he will now be earning annually each year through 2019. That is a rather large payday for a team to give someone who might very well be their fourth-best starter — as it stands right now.

By all accounts, Verlander is still a competitor, so look for him to step up and re-establish himself as front-of-the-rotation starter in 2015.

Brad Faber is a Detroit Tigers writer and Sabermetrics columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Brad_Faber, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on LinkedIn or Google.

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