Houston Astros Justin Verlander took the high road after recent reports stated discord in his time with the New York Mets.
“I want to say that I have nothing but respect for the Mets organization and I enjoyed connecting with all of my teammates this season… new and old!!” he said Monday. “It was truly a wonderful group of people.”
Mike Puma from the New York Post cited a source on Saturday who had described Verlander as a “diva”. He said that the right-hander “often complained about the Mets’ analytics department, which he deemed inferior to the one that served him in Houston.”
Puma’s report also stated that Verlander “was largely detached from teammates” and “didn’t add to the team’s identity.” Per Puma, Verlander and Max Scherzer had a “strained relationship” during their time together on the Detroit Tigers. And while the two “worked toward harmony” in Queens, there was reportedly “occasional discord.”
The drama between Scherzer and Verlander was somewhat foreseeable. Former Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told Newsday’s Tim Healey in December the two stars “butted heads” at times when they were teammates in the Motor City.
“It was never a bad butting,” Dombrowski said. “It would be more from a competitive perspective — which isn’t always bad. ‘OK, you pitched, now I’m going to be better than you.’
“I don’t think they were two who went out a lot with one another, that type of [social, friendly] situation. I’d say the competitive aspect is the way to describe it. They were not the best of buddies, but I didn’t have any problems with them.”
Broadly speaking, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal also, quoted an Astros player who described Verlander as being “more accessible” and “more engaged in the clubhouse environment than he was prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020.” It definitely gave the impression the opposite or something similar was the case before.
The fact, however, is that Verlander’s actions behind the scenes are probably not a story right now if the Mets were on track to make the playoffs. It is easy to apportion blame when New York is 12 games under .500 and fourth in the National League East.
Verlander undeniably played a role in the Mets underwhelming to this degree. His strikeout rate (7.7 per nine innings) and his 3.84 FIP were both well below the standard he set in 2022. Being an ace of the staff also comes with some expectations within the clubhouse that he may not have been fulfilling.
But making Verlander the scapegoat is probably counterproductive when it may lead to further scrutiny of the organization.
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