The 2023 version of the New York Mets is far from the best team money can buy. And the 2023 version of Justin Verlander is far from the best version of the future Hall of Famer and reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.
The 40-year-old Verlander, who has defied father time for so long, is starting to show his age. And since making his season debut with his new ball club, the results have been inconsistent at best. Verlander had one of his worst outings of the season on Thursday in a 13-10 loss to the Atlanta Braves and if his postgame comments are any indication, he is running out of answers for why he’s fared so poorly.
Verlander allowed five runs on seven hits in just three innings against the Braves, in which he walked four and struck out three. In seven starts for the Mets, Verlander has had three “stinkers,” as Newsday’s Tim Healy put it. Thursday’s outing saw his season ERA rise to 4.85. Not exactly what you want for someone with the largest average annual salary in the sport.
“Feast or famine it seems. It is [a concern]. I’ve been working my [butt] off trying to make it click. Every time I think I’ve kind of found it, it goes the other direction,” Verlander said regarding his overall level of concern with his inconsistencies on the mound following Thursday’s loss. It’s definitely frustrating for me and everybody.”
Clearly exasperated, Verlander continued by saying that he feels good physically. And that when he looks at the metrics from over the last couple of years until now, everything looks relatively similar across the board.
“This isn’t easy. It’s not easy for the team, not easy for me,” Verlander added. “The one thing that I’ve always been is accountable—this wasn’t good enough. It isn’t good enough. I will work as hard as anybody to find it.”
Many around the MLB world offered their opinion on Verlander’s outing and his subsequent quotes.
Surprised Verlander couldn't pinpoint reasons for his disastrous start. Instead he simply said he has no idea why he's been so "feast or famine" this season. Said he feels good, metrics look the same. So it's hard not to think that age is catching up with him.
— John Harper (@NYNJHarper) June 9, 2023
Tom Glavine redux https://t.co/SVPt9KIYjh
— Matt Kalman (@MattKalman) June 9, 2023
Blame the relievers, the umpire or Mets history/luck all you want, but at these prices Justin Verlander has to be better than that. And he knows it.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 9, 2023
We can pile on the pen, but this comes down to Scherzer and Verlander. They needed to step up and they didn’t. This debacle in Atlanta falls squarely on them.
— Tommy Lugauer (@tommylugauer) June 9, 2023
In the last 24 hours, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, the Mets co-aces at $43M a year each, combined to pitch 8.2 innings against the Braves, throwing an amazing 185 pitches while giving up 10 runs and 18 hits. What is going on here?
— Gary Myers (@GaryMyersNY) June 9, 2023
Justin Verlander, starts allowing >3 ER
2022 (28 starts): 2
2023 (7 starts): 3— jack (@Jolly_Olive) June 9, 2023
June 8th and Verlander is still alternating between Ace stuff/Batting practice every other start
— Phill (@MeekPhill_) June 9, 2023
The Mets are paying $86M a year to two pitchers to be aces/losing streak stoppers
Neither Max Scherzer nor Justin Verlander have pitched like that with any consistency
Enjoy your Thursday night
— Joe DeMayo (@PSLToFlushing) June 8, 2023
Justin Verlander was … not fooling the Braves in the first inning.
He threw 25 pitches.
Braves 3, Mets 0, top 2 pic.twitter.com/V8Br6CvXrk
— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) June 8, 2023
It’s getting late early for a Mets team that needs Verlander to find it sooner than later. It remains to be seen if the big-ticket free-agent signing can bounce back from his latest poor outing, as he’s largely been a disappointment in New York thus far.
[SNY on Twitter; photo from Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports]
