After Joining The 250-Win Club, Will Justin Verlander Follow Max Scherzer Out Of New York?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 30: Pitcher Justin Verlander #35 of the New York Mets tips his cap after … [+] being relieved in the sixth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on July 30, 2023 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Nationals 5-2 as Verlander recorded his 250th career win. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

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Justin Verlander joined a unique club Sunday afternoon, when he became the 14th hurler in Mets history to win exactly six games with the club. Time for (deep breath) Jeff D’Amico, Nelson Figueroa, Gary Kroll, Doug Linton, Braden Looper, Aaron Loup, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Rafael Montero, Adam Ottavino, Addison Reed, Scott Strickland, Rick White and Justin Wilson to make room for Verlander in the group photo!

He also became the 49th major league pitcher to ever record 250 wins, but that was secondary on the afternoon in which he might have spent his final game in a Mets uniform.

“I was wondering which question would come first,” a chuckling Verlander said when asked about joining the 250-win club as his press conference began following a 5-2 victory over the Nationals.

It’s an appropriate summation of a Mets season gone almost impossibly sideways that Verlander may have become the last 250-game winner ever Sunday — Zack Greinke, who has 224 wins, is the closest to Verlander but seems content to finish his career with the forever woebegone Royals, for whom he’s recorded just six victories the last two seasons — and fielded just that one question about the achievement.

“It’s pretty special,” Verlander said. “You don’t play the game for accomplishments. You don’t play it for big flashy numbers or whatever. But as this game has a way of doing, sometimes you get a little kick in the butt and it’s a moment that you kind of have to step back and appreciate. This is one of those for me.”

And because its been one of those seasons for the Mets — and because the trade deadline is Tuesday at 6 PM EST — the conversation immediately turned to whether or not Verlander would waive his no-trade clause in the aftermath of the Mets jettisoning David Robertson and, especially, Max Scherzer, during this weekend’s homestand.

Verlander has been steadfast in declaring his desire to remain with the Mets, who have been below .500 every day since June 6 and enter tonight 6 1/2 games out of the final NL wild card spot. After earning career win no. 249 (which also vaulted him into a tie for 160th place on the Mets’ all-time list) in Tuesday’s 9-3 victory over the Yankees, Verlander — who is due to make $43.3 million next season — responded to questions about trade rumors by saying he didn’t sign a one-year deal with the Mets.

But Scherzer was on what amounted to a three-year deal because of his $43.3 million player option for 2024, and now he’s going to be sharing a locker room with Jacob deGrom again after the Mets sent him (and more than $35 million) to the Rangers on Saturday night in exchange for top prospect Luisangel Acuna, the brother of Braves MVP candidate Ronald Acuna Jr.

“I think ‘Robby’ was a tough one, but you know (about) the circumstances,” Verlander said of Robertson, who is an impending free agent. “Max is obviously an integral part to the team next season, one of our starting pitchers. So when you see that happen, you can’t help but think what’s in store for next year.”

Mets general manager Billy Eppler, speaking as Verlander took the mound early Sunday afternoon, offered mixed signals when asked how the team will approach 2024.

“I do want to be clear that it’s not a rebuild, it’s not a fire sale, it’s not a liquidation,” Eppler said, becoming possibly the first general manager ever to remind his listeners they could use a good bookcase from Bed, Bath & Beyond. “This is just a repurposing of Steve’s investment in the club and kind of shifting the investment from the team into the organization.”

Even by the standards of the modern baseball executive, that was a whopper of a word salad that could mean just about anything, But while Eppler wouldn’t rule out additional deals, he provided a little clarity for the Mets’ short-term plans by saying the team wasn’t “punting 2024” and that its“price points are high” on the remaining players.

“We have valuations on our existing personnel,” Eppler said. “And the bar is high to meet.”

If the Mets are going to compete in 2024, the bar should be very high for Verlander, who is still pitching at an ace-like level even at 40. Verlander got off to a slow start after missing the first five weeks with a shoulder injury but has a 1.95 ERA in his last nine starts.

“I think it largely depends on how the organization views next year,” Verlander said. “I mean, I think Max is a tough sign for trying to go back at it like happened this year.

“I’m committed to trying to win a championship here. But if the organization decides that that’s not the direction they is best fit to go for next year and go for it again, then yeah, I’ll be more open to it.”

Verlander’s measured uncertainty — and his stated desire to keep any conversations with Cohen and Eppler to himself — stood in marked contrast to Scherzer, who could barely restrain his fury over the Robertson trade and his need to speak with upper management during the final three or so minutes of his last public appearance with the Mets on Friday.

It was another reminder of the drastically different nature of two Hall of Fame-bound superstars who have twice shared a locker room and little else — remember the simpler times of spring training and all those stories about the rivals reuniting? — and how Verlander’s approach to his contracts could make the next two days more and less complicated for the Mets.

With career earnings north of $360 million, Verlander will not need to hold a tag sale anytime soon. But last winter, when he declined a $25 million player option for 2023 with the Astros, marked the first time he truly hit the open market.

Verlander avoided free agency twice with the Tigers by signing five-year extensions in 2010, when the Tigers were in the midst of a four-year playoff drought and 2014, the year after Jim Leyland retired. The Tigers subsequently fell apart (and haven’t been able to stand back up) and Verlander was traded to the Astros near the end of the third year of the latter deal and signed a two-year extension through 2021 during spring training in 2019.

Tommy John surgery sidelined him for all but one start in 2020 and all of 2021, after which Verlander re-signed with the Astros and said he did so out of a sense of loyalty to the Astros and owner Jim Crane.

Scherzer, of course, is a staunch union hawk who relishes the showdowns with baseball’s corporate structure as he looks to — pardon the semi-pun — maximize his earnings for both himself and future superstars.

And when he makes his Rangers debut later this week, Scherzer will have played for more teams in the last 25 months than Verlander has in a career that began more than a year before Scherzer was drafted. He’s quite comfortable as a hired gun, going from one win-now team to another in search of another World Series ring.

With Verlander, a two-time champion with the Astros, there is precedent for him to endure a short retooling period if he likes where he is located. And the belief at Citi Field is that Verlander is less likely to accept a trade than Scherzer because he and his family — supermodel wife Kate Upton and their daughter — are happy living in Manhattan.

But the Scherzers were also content enough to recently buy a house on Long Island. Things can change fast at this time of year.

“Two-fifty, that’s pretty cool,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said before lauding Verlander’s approach.

“I’ve seen him work at his trade — he’s in there today early like he’s pitching the seventh game of the World Series,” Showalter said. “It means a lot for him to be there for his team. And that’s why he’s always been a guy that’s had a home.”

And now Verlander joins everyone else in waiting to find out where that is after Tuesday — and if it’ll give him a chance to join the Mets’ seven-win club.