Justin Verlander trade buzz swirls as Houston fails to catch up

Although the Houston Astros are playing better than they were at the start of the 2024 season, the improvements have been incremental at best. There wasn’t a string of wins that catapulted the Astros into contention, but rather a long stretch in which Houston played around .500 baseball. Technically, that counts as “stopping the bleeding,” but did little to change the fact that the Astros were a total of seven games below .500 as of mid-June.

Still, the Astros maintained they weren’t throwing in the towel for the 2024 season and general manager Dana Brown continued to state he couldn’t imagine the Astros selling at the trade deadline. However, that hasn’t stopped almost everyone from projecting Houston to move some players at the deadline, including some high-profile players.

One of those names that could be on the move at the deadline is Justin Verlander. While the Astros pulled out all the stops to bring back Verlander at the trade deadline last year, there’s a pretty compelling argument that trading him this year could very well be on the table.

This isn’t a performance issue on Verlander’s side, as he performed well, even if he wasn’t spectacular. His 3.98 ERA is reasonable and he still limits baserunners, although his long ball giving up issues are obviously problematic. The problem is that the Astros don’t seem likely to compete for a playoff spot at the moment, as they are 4.5 games out of the very competitive AL wild card race, and Verlander is making quite a bit of money even with dishes. eat part of his contract.

As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale rightly pointed out, Verlander’s no-trade clause is a problem when it comes to moving him. He was just willing to give it up to come back to the Astros and he loves playing in Houston. There’s also the issue that owner Jim Crane also likes Verlander, so the right-hander actually being available is far from a sure thing.

However, many believe that at this point in his career, Verlander might be willing to waive his no-trade clause if he goes to a true contender. This limits his market somewhat and he already passed up the opportunity to be traded to the Dodgers last year, but it’s also hard to believe Verlander will just play in Houston if they don’t make the playoffs . .

As a result, speculation that Verlander could be traded began to intensify as the trade deadline approached. Things could change if the Astros go on a run in the next month, but there’s a good chance the buzz will only increase in the coming weeks.

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