Verlander gets deal for $25 million from Astros

Justin Verlander reached a $25 million deal to remain with the Houston Astros as he comes back from Tommy John surgery, and Brandon Belt accepted an $18.4 million qualifying offer from the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday.

Verlander, a 38-year-old right-hander, has a conditional $25 million option for 2023 as part of the agreement.

He made just one start in 2020, pitching six innings on July 24 in a win over Seattle on opening day before being placed on the injured list with strained right forearm. He attempted a comeback after he was injured, but announced on Sept. 19, 2020, that he needed Tommy John surgery and underwent the procedure on Oct. 1.

Verlander, a two-time Cy Young Award winner and the 2011 AL MVP, became a free agent after completing a $94 million, threeyear contract with the Astros. He said earlier this year that his rehabilitation was going well and added that he hated that he only played one game in the time that deal covered.

“That gnaws at me,” he said. “But ... this was an unfortunate injury that nobody could have seen coming. But I still do like to earn my keep.”

Verlander is 226-129 with a 3.33 ERA in 16 seasons.

Belt was the only one to accept among the 14 free agents who received the offers from their former clubs on Nov. 7. Bell is 33 and perhaps wary of a free-agent market at first base that includes 2020 NL MVP Freddie Freeman.

Belt hit .274 with a career-high 29 home runs and 59 RBIs last season.

Players who turned down offers included Freeman (Atlanta), shortstop Carlos Correa and Verlander (Houston), AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray and second baseman/shortstop Marcus Semien (Toronto), outfielder Nick Castellanos (Cincinnati), shortstop Trevor Story (Colorado), and outfielder Michael Conforto (New York Mets).

LABOR UPDATE >> New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said he voted for Major League Baseball’s proposal to lower the luxury tax threshold, a plan opposed by the players’ union with the sport on the brink of its first work stoppage on 26 years.

The luxury tax, formally known as the competitive balance tax, had a threshold of $210 million this year. Owners proposed lowering it to $180 million and adding a $100 million payroll floor. The union long has opposed a floor, fearing it would lead to a hard cap.

Speaking Wednesday at Major League Baseball’s regular owners’ meetings in Chicago, Steinbrenner said the CBT proposal was approved by the labor policy committee.

“There’s seven of us on labor policy,” Steinbrenner said. “Boston, me, several mid-markets, a couple small markets. We’re a very diverse group, and when we came up with the proposal, including CBT and luxury tax that we brought to the union, it was a unanimous, on our committee, a unanimous deal.

“And every owner on the committee, there are certainly things in the proposal that we didn’t like, I mean every owner. But we wanted to put together a proposal that address their concerns and come together as a group.”

MLB’s five-year labor contract expires at 8:59 p.m. PST on Dec. 1, and Steinbrenner said the owners are having discussions with the players’ union “on a continuous basis.”

But negotiations have been taking place since last spring, and there has been no sign of any significant movement toward a deal. If the agreement expires without a new deal in place, Major League Baseball could lock out its players — putting the start of spring training in jeopardy. METS, EPPLER NEAR GM DEAL >> The New York Mets were close to completing a fouryear deal to hire Billy Eppler as general manager, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

New York was completing a background check on Eppler, fired as general manager of the Angels a little more than a year ago after five unsuccessful seasons. But it appears the Mets have finally found their GM following a ridiculed search that had dragged on for more than six weeks since the 2021 season ended.

The 46-year-old Eppler Eppler is expected to be introduced by the team today.