The Mets on Tuesday agreed to trade pitcher Justin Verlander back to Houston, according to multiple media reports.
Verlander, part of World Series championship teams in Houston in 2017 and 2022, signed with the Mets in the offseason as a free agent, but the Mets head into the trade deadline 50-55, 17.5 games behind Atlanta in the National League East.
The Mets entered 2023 with a pair of former Tigers in the starting rotation, Verlander and Max Scherzer. Scherzer was traded to the Rangers on Saturday.
Verlander is 6-5 this season with a 3.15 ERA. His last three starts, wins over the White Sox, Yankees and Nationals, have seen Verlander allow a total of two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings.
Before a trade-deadline deal in 2017 sent him to the Astros, Verlander pitched in Detroit where he was the 2006 American League Rookie of the Year, the 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young winner, and helped Detroit to World Series appearances in 2006 and 2012. During his tenure with the Tigers, he led the league in wins twice, ERA once, innings pitched three times and strikeouts four times.