Rockies trade rumors: starting pitching edition

Justin Verlander is, by far, the biggest name on this list. He’s been discussed before as a possible trade candidate on our site in this article from last week.

He has struggled in 2017 as he is 5-6 with a 4.73 ERA in 18 starts in 104 2/3 innings pitched. However, in 2016, he was 16-9 with a 3.04 ERA in 34 starts and 224 2/3 innings pitched. He led the league with 254 strikeouts and led the league in WHIP (Walks+Hits divided by Innings Pitched) at 1.001 (under 1.3 for a starter is good). He also only came five points short of winning the AL Cy Young Award and received 14 of the 30 first place votes.

In 2011, he won the AL MVP and AL Cy Young Award, the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2006, and he’s been in the top 10 in Cy Young Award voting six times.

He only has one start in Coors Field in his career but it was very good. He pitched a complete game and only allowed four hits and one run. The Rockies only hit .133 off him and only had a .161 on-base percentage.

He has extensive playoff experience as he pitched in the playoffs in 2006 and 2011-14. In 16 starts, he’s 7-5 with a 3.39 and pitched 98 1/3 innings pitched.

He’s owed $28 million for the next two years and he has an vesting option for 2020 that is $22 million if he is in the top 5 in the Cy Young Award voting.

It would take a lot to acquire him but if the Rockies are willing to give a lot of prospects up (and they have them as MLB.com ranked their farm system as #8 in MLB in this article from March), they could pull it off.

Writers/Editor’s Note: In the initial publication of this article, I forgot to mention that Verlander has 10 and 5 rights, which is when a player has 10 years service time and five years with the same team. This means that he has full-no trade protection and therefore, must approve any trade that he is involved in.

We go to the Windy City for the next starter.