Justin Verlander contract details with Giants should have Yankees kicking themselves

On the same day it was revealed the New York Yankees were "actively" trying to trade Marcus Stroman — something everybody already knew — Justin Verlander signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.

After the dust settled, it was revealed Verlander would earn $15 million for the 2025 campaign. Is it a risk? Absolutely. Verlander is heading into his age-42 season and dealt with injuries last year, leading to a career-worst campaign (5.48 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 74 strikeouts in just 17 starts totaling 90 1/3 innings).

Could Verlander be taking a swift dive into irrelevancy as his age hits harder than expected? It's possible. But this man is two years removed from a Cy Young and just one year removed from a 3.22 ERA and 1.13 WHIP across 27 starts.

Do the Yankees need Verlander? Not necessarily. They already have a full starting rotation and an aging roster. But would they rather have Verlander at $15 million instead of Marcus Stroman at $18 million? Or Carlos Rodón for another four years at $27 million? We guess it depends how you feel about Verlander for 2025.

It's a safe bet that Verlander will not twirl a Cy Young-caliber year, but how about a former MVP, World Series champ and multi-Cy Young winner on the pitching staff at that price? The Yankees have spent money in far dumber ways, and if they didn't unnecessarily leap at the opportunity to sign Stroman last offseason — whose market felt non-existent — they would've had the money to bring aboard Verlander (or somebody else!) while not being burdened with a salary dump trade in January.

Yankees trying to salary dump Marcus Stroman as Justin Verlander signs for less

One could argue the Yankees have already added too many aging players or short-term commitments after trading for Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams and signing Paul Goldschmidt. But these are the types of risks worth taking! None of these acquisitions affect the long-term outlook of the Yankees. If they fail, they're likely gone next year or the year after. If they succeed? We're looking at a special 2025.

Verlander falls into this bucket. He's more of a luxury acquisition at this point. And though he might not offer ace-like quality anymore (though he still could, because we're only talking about one hiccup last year), he'd at least provide leadership, valuable insight, and the ability to deliver upon what he's asked to do in an important game.

Instead, the Yankees will pay $3 more million to Stroman in hopes he can eat innings and make consistent starts for them. Oh, whoops. Actually, they don't want that, because if he throws 140 innings in 2025 assuming he isn't traded, he will activate his $18 million vesting option for 2026.

So, yeah, we'd say a roll of the dice on Verlander for less money probably would've played better for New York in the back end of the rotation for 2025 than what they have right now. Just gotta hope for Roki Sasaki at this point.