Phillies Linked to Future Hall of Fame Pitcher in Surprising Potential Move

Tue, Feb 10, 2026

Could the Philadelphia Phillies actually make this move?

Video Transcript

So Justin Verlander has been named as a potential option for the Phillies to fill out the rest of their starting rotation, which definitely has some question marks heading into twenty twenty-six after losing Ranger Surez to free agency, and with Zach Wheeler recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome, expected to miss the first part of twenty twenty-six.

So what can the Phillies do here?

Is Verlander actually an option for them?

Well, Dave Dombrowski said on Monday that the Phillies were eyeing more starting pitching, and Verlander is out there.

Now, Dombrowski said that he expects more trades to happen before the start of the season, just because of the late developing free agency.

So maybe Philadelphia ex-- is exploring trade opportunities here.

But there are several pitchers available in free agency, and Verlander is one of the more intriguing options.

Now, the problem with Verlander is that he might cost more than what the Phillies are willing to spend, because right now the Phillies are at about three hundred and twelve million dollars on their payroll.

So any dollar they spend more now would get hit with a one hundred and ten percent tax penalty.

Remember, this past year, the, the Phillies paid fifty-six million dollars in luxury tax penalties.

So they're trying to avoid spending as much money as possible to keep that payroll down.

Now, Verlander, I'm not sure how much he'd want, but he had, he had a three eight five ERA with the Giants last season, two nine nine ERA during the second half of the season.

So even though he's, you know, in his forties, he's still got something left in the tank, and he could definitely help the Phillies rotation in the back end with, you know, such question mark fully behind Christopher Sanchez and Jess Luzardo on the start rotation.

Aaron Nola was terrible last year.

Tyler Walker is always a question mark.

We don't know what to expect from Andrew Painter.

So Verlander would be a terrific addition here.

I'm just not sure that they'd be able to find a match between the two sides financially.