Verlander has started four games for the Giants this season and the team has lost two of them. Are Giants fans concerned?
Good morning, baseball fans!
The San Francisco Giants signed veteran pitcher Justin Verlander to a $15 million, one-year contract over the offseason. So far this season, he has had a 6.75 ERA, 4.73 FIP, and has allowed 15 runs (14 earned), 24 hits, with 17 strikeouts and nine walks over four starts.
I know that pitcher wins are not really a great metric, but it is a little bit concerning that the team has only lost five games (as of the time this is being written), and Verlander has pitched two of those losses.
In the two games he started where the Giants won, they were high-scoring affairs. There was a a 10-9 win over the Seattle Mariners in which Verlander pitched only two and a third innings, allowing five hits and three runs; and an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds in which he allowed all six runs (only five earned) on five hits.
Now, we are still in the part of the season where small sample size applies. Just look at Blake Snell’s 2024 season and how that worked out. So it’s not necessarily a red flag at this point, but for me it does feel like a point of concern to keep an eye on.