(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
West Palm Beach, Fla. — Justin Verlander thinks the free-agent process is broken. Still, he says that’s not why he decided to sign a new deal with the Houston Astros rather than test the market.
“I can’t see a better situation,” Verlander said Sunday after the Astros announced a three-year contract that added $66 million in guaranteed money for 2020 and ‘21.
A 36-year-old right-hander, Verlander had been due $28 million in 2019, the final guaranteed season of a $180 million, seven-year deal he signed with the Detroit Tigers before the 2013 season.