Astros Rumors: With Bregman’s extension official is Verlander next?

The Astros held a press conference this afternoon officially announcing Alex Bregman’s extension. There are rumors that Justin Verlander may be next.

As Spring Training is wrapping up, player extensions seem to be ramping up. Bregman‘s 5-year $100 million dollar extension was made official today and Ryan Pressly‘s contract was extended another two years. Now, according to Ken Rosenthal of MLB on Fox, the Houston Astros are in talks with Verlander to sew up yet another extension.

Astros’ owner Jim Crane has corroborated the rumor and verified that both sides have recently been in contract discussions, but he also hinted it needs to take place soon. “I don’t think anything is final, but if it’s going to get done, it’s going to get done before we get out of here,” Crane said. “He doesn’t really like to do it during the season, but that could change, too. There’s interest on both sides, so we’ll see what happens.”

Rosenthal also said that sources indicated there could possibly be a two-year deal in the works in the $66 million range. With Verlander a month past turning 36 years old, a two-year extension may be the best deal for both parties. Verlander has stated that he would like to pitch until he’s 45 years old and he may very well. But let’s go for two years, see how he is toward the end of that contract and go from there.

If Verlander’s 2018 performance is any indication, he’s certainly still going strong. He started a league-leading 34 games and eclipsed 200 innings pitched while going 16-9 in the process. He also led the league with 209 strikeouts earning him the best SO/BB ratio of 7.84 in all the majors.

He has made it apparent that he is very happy here in Houston and has a lot of respect for the front office and his fellow teammates. Hopefully, that could go a long way in his decision making.

"“The city, the fans, my teammates, the organization from top to bottom — from Mr. Crane all the way down to the locker room — stuff has made my transition easy and joyful,” Verlander said. “I felt accepted right away, and I really enjoyed my time here. That’s a testament to all those people.”"

As a side note, there were also rumblings about the front office and Gerrit Cole discussing an extension. But Cole put that to bed right away, saying “I told them they’re free to call Scott (Boras) whenever they want. That was the extent of the conversation & since then Scott has not been contacted by anyone from the club. This seems more like a phone call negotiation involving the media than anything”

Extending Verlander, as well as Bregman and Pressly, would be a huge coup for the Astros in their quest to hold on to their dominance over the division, if not the league. If Verlander wants to stay, and the Astros want him to stay, let’s make it happen.