Astros insider gives clarity on Justin Verlander's future in Houston

Justin Verlander enjoyed a solid 2025 season with the San Francisco Giants, finishing with a 4-11 record, 3.85 ERA and 137 strikeouts. Now a free agent, the veteran is linked with a return to one of his former teams, the Houston Astros.

Considering Justin Verlander's history with the Astros, several fans appear to be of the opinion that chances of the move taking place are quite high.

On Saturday's episode of "Crush City Territory," The Athletic's Chandler Rome explained why that may not necessarily be the case.

"I do keep getting asked about Justin Verlander," Rome said (Timestamp: 41:37). "Like we've said on numerous occasions, if (Astros owner) Jim Crane wants it done, it will probably be done. I do want to make it clear, I'm not saying it's a foregone conclusion that he's going to end up in Houston. This is what happened last year, he wanted to come back, other teams were in pursuit of him, he liked what the Giants sold him. The Giants gave him an offer, and he called Jim (Crane). "Jim said, 'Well, we're not in a position where we can match that, or we can even make you an offer.' So Justin said, 'All right, I'm going to go here.' This exact thing happened last year. It could happen this year where Justin wants to come back, and the Astros are not at a point where they can match what he wants. I would not put it as the 50-50 sort of thing that people thought it would be. Right now, they're mainly focused on the trade market."

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"It's possible" - Justin Verlander sets his sights on 300-win mark

Speaking to insider Maria Guardado of MLB.com shortly after making his final start of 2025, Justin Verlander spoke about his goal of reaching the 300-win mark.

"I think if I can go out and make 29, 30-plus starts and give our team a chance to win for a few more years, then it’s possible,” Verlander said. “I’m not going to say it’s not. It’s definitely harder, though. If you make 29 starts, you’d like to win 10, 15 games. It wasn’t in the cards this year. But maybe this year wasn’t meant to be for wins. "Maybe this year was meant to be kind of for health and kind of re-finding myself and getting used to taking the ball every five, six days and just kind of going out there and being able to log some innings. Maybe that will carry me where I need to go.”

San Francisco Giants v Toronto Blue Jays - Source: Getty

Justin Verlander currently has 266 wins to his name.

Edited by Raghav Mehta