Major League Baseball is at the beginning of what could be a long lockout. During a lockout, teams cannot talk to players or make any major league signings. This means that deals that were not made official before the lockout cannot be completed until after it is over. Overall, this is not a big deal because there are a lot of free agents who had not yet found deals. However, there is one case that is a bit of a mystery at this point. Two weeks before the lockout, it was reported that Justin Verlander would be returning to the Houston Astros. However, as MLB Insider Jon Heyman tweeted out: the Astros deal was never announced and presumably is not official.
On November 17th, it was reported that Verlander would once again pitch for the Astros. It appears that this is not a done deal though. According to Heyman, the reasons as to why the deal is not official are still unknown. The Insider tweeted that no one has responded why the Verlander deal wasn’t made official.. This means that Verlander is still a free agent. It remains to be seen whether Verlander and the Astros will complete the deal after the lockout ends.
Other Astros News
One deal that was made official was the Astros’ signing of reliever Hector Neris to a two-year deal with a third year team option. Neris will essentially take the role that Kendall Graveman occupied after the team acquired him at the trade deadline, setting up for Ryan Pressly.
The 32 year old right-hander pitched 74 1/3 innings in 2021 with a 3.63 ERA, saving 12 ball games. Throughout his career, Neris has had the swing-and-miss stuff that is important for relievers. Across 407 2/3 innings pitched, he has struck out 11.5 batters per nine innings. He has a career ERA of 3.42 and he has 84 career saves.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Justin Verlander, Hector Neris, Kendall Graveman, Ryan Pressly
