Justin Verlander reveals how blunt Jim Crane was with him during Astros negotiations

Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander signed with the San Francisco Giants this offseason in a deal that could ultimately be the final one he receives in his big league career. The right-hander is truly one of the best starting pitchers of all-time, and is looking to wrap things up on a high note — although he hasn't officially said 2025 is the last go-round for him.

Of course, prior to his tenure on the Giants, Verlander spent seven incredible years leading the rotation of the Houston Astros. Before signing with the Giants, it sounds like Verlander spoke with Astros owner Jim Crane "a lot" and that there was interest from both sides on a reunion that'd bring the hurler back to Houston for another stint.

Despite the fact that there was frequent dialogue, Verlander recently relayed to The Athletic's Chandler Rome that he was told by Crane that the Astros were "not even in a place to make an offer," which is certainly surprising to hear after Crane himself was so confident that the club would continue to spend this winter.

Justin Verlander reveals how blunt Jim Crane was with him during Astros negotiations

If the decision-makers for the Astros liked Verlander enough (which they clearly did), it's a bit odd that they didn't make more of an effort to bring him back to the organization again. He's battled through his fair share of injuries over the past few years, but he's largely remained a run-prevention machine.

At his peak — which somehow came as he neared the age of 40 - Verlander was otherworldly for the Astros. He won a Cy Young Award in 2019 and then another in 2022, both times earning AL MVP votes because of it.

Now that his Astros career has all but come to an end, he'll end things with a 73-28 record and 2.71 ERA across 130 starts. He struck out 962 batters and walked just 155 across 810.1 innings, good for a 10.7 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9. No matter which way you slice it, he's one of the most successful pitchers to ever don an Astros uniform.

At various points this past winter, it sounded like the Astros were prepared to spend and to have a payroll that came close to where it was last year. Instead, their owner told Verlander that there's no shot they could make an offer to him. After losing both Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, this feels like nothing more than another low-blow to Astros fans.

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