Blue Jays "remain engaged" with three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander: report

Perhaps it’s just a rehashing of an old dream, but there is hope once again that the Toronto Blue Jays might finally, actually, sign Justin Verlander.

Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reported on Sunday that the Blue Jays “remain engaged” with the star pitcher, after pursuing him last offseason.

“One thing the Blue Jays will need to monitor is the way the starting pitching market moves after the Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a stunning $185 million, five-year deal Friday,” Davidi wrote in a Sunday column. “That contract bodes well for aces Carlos Rodon and Justin Verlander, the latter of which the Blue Jays pursued aggressively last winter and remain engaged with this one, although a deal for him may very well cut them off from other significant moves.”

Verlander ultimately opted to sign back with the Houston Astros after missing the entirety of the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery.

And it couldn’t have gone much better: Verlander won both the American League Cy Young Award as the league’s top pitcher for the third time, as well as winning the World Series once again with Houston. His final record tallied 18-4 with an ERA of 1.75 and 185 strikeouts in 28 appearances in 2022.

One of the best pitchers of his generation, Verlander has played a combined 17 seasons for the Tigers and Astros. Over the course of his career, he’s picked 244 wins, 133 losses, an ERA of 3.24 and 3,198 strikeouts.

But he’s not shy on the accolades front either, having won the aforementioned three Cy Young awards, an AL MVP award, the Rookie of the Year Award, as well as an American League Championship MVP award in 2017 en route to the World Series title.

Verlander has an interesting history with the Jays, having thrown two of his three career no-hitters at the Rogers Centre in 2011 and 2019.

Time will only tell if he’ll get a chance to please Blue Jays fans, rather than terrorize them like he’s been doing for much of the last two decades.

You might also like:
• Blue Jays great Fred McGriff named to Baseball Hall of Fame