But what other reason would you want him other than “getting better”? He’s kind of an annoying personality ; his brother, Ben, built his entire persona on hating the Yankees and is essentially the Jared Carrabis of Fox Sports; and the idea of poaching more and more Astros players just to … beat the Astros was starting to feel unsettling.
Sometimes, though, it feels good to maintain the contempt with the opposing party and pass on making a deal with the devil.
Most importantly, however, to gamble big again on an aging pitcher returning from a serious injury was a risk many couldn’t have felt that comfortable with.
Remember last year when they spent half of their allotted remaining money on Corey Kluber in hopes of the right-hander orchestrating a bounce-back to take them deep into the playoffs? They got cocky, expected the rest of the team to operate without a hitch, and got burned.
We have NO idea how Verlander is going to perform across a 162-game slate after his extended absence as he enters his age-39 season.
He would’ve been trying to crowdsource his own money within a month of his time here to fund a rival paper to battle the tabloids after Phil Mushnick’s first scathing column.