Tigers, Justin Verlander Agree to Contract Extension

Justin Verlander Contract Extension
Justin Verlander Contract Extension
Mar 11 2012 Lakeland FL USA Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander 35 pitches during the game against the New York Mets at Joker Marchant Stadium The Mets beat the Tigers 11 0 Jerome Miron USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Tigers have extended the contract of Justin Verlander for another five years, keeping him in Detroit at least through 2019, and perhaps longer.

It was tweeted earlier this afternoon by Buster Olney that something big was stirring in baseball.

And lo, big news indeed. Verlander agreed to a five year extension worth $140MM, likely keeping him in Detroit for the duration of his career. As Olney noted, Verlander could earn a total of $202MM under his new contract, including this year, in which he’s owed $20MM.

The extension will keep Verlander in Detroit through 2019, by which point he will be 37 years of age.

In his 8 seasons with Detroit, Verlander has a wins-loss record of 124-65, with a 3.40 ERA. He is a five-time All-Star, and took hom the 2011 AL Cy Young Award.

Verlander weighed in on the deal with the following tweet.

The Tigers have written incentives into the deal that could keep him in Detroit through the 2020 season, should he meet the requirements.

The signing puts Verlander’s average salary for the next seven years to somewhere around $25MM.

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Tomas Laverty
Tomas Laverty, frequent contributor to the MLB section, runs a Detroit web design company called Detroit Spaces.