The Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays Apparently Tried to Acquire Justin Verlander in 2023

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays were among the teams trying to acquire Justin Verlander from the New York Mets at the trade deadline last season. instead, Verlander was dealt to the Houston Astros again.

May 1, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander (35) reacts / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

At the trade deadline in 2023, the New York Mets dealt ace pitcher Justin Verlander to the Houston Astros, where he had already played from 2017-2022.

However, apparently multiple other teams tried to acquire Verlander before he utilized his no-trade clause to steer a deal to Houston. Two of those teams? The Seattle Mariners and the Tampa Bay Rays.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

The Mets were in deep trade discussions last summer involving Verlander with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays, but Verlander informed the Mets that he wouldn’t approve a trade unless it was Houston.

Each of those teams would have made sense at the time. First off, the Dodgers were out Walker Buehler because of his rehab from Tommy John surgery and Clayton Kershaw's health is always a question at this point in his career.

Seattle was out Robbie Ray and Marco Gonzales and was relying on the young arms of Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo. There were questions at the time about if either pitcher could or should actually make it through the entire season. Furthermore, the Rays had already lost Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs to injury.

They ended up acquiring Aaron Civale in a deal with the Cleveland Guardians and made him their big trade deadline acquisition.

As for Verlander, he ended up finishing 2023 with a 7-3 record with the Astros. He helped them advance to the ALCS for the seventh straight year, where they were ultimately beaten by the Texas Rangers.

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