Baseball betting had the Detroit Tigers locking up one of the best pitchers in baseball for the next five years on Thursday. The Tigers signed Justin Verlander to an $80 million dollar five-year deal. Verlander gets a lot of respect in MLB betting and for good reason since he wins a lot of games for Detroit.
Baseball betting would have seen Verlander go to arbitration if the Tigers had not come to some sort of a deal with their star pitcher. The deal includes a $500,000 signing bonus and has Verlander making $6.75 million this season, $12.75 million next year and $20 million in each of the three seasons after that. Just how good was Verlander last year in baseball betting? He tied for the lead in baseball betting wins last year. He led all of baseball with 269 strikeouts, 240 innings and 35 starts. MLB betting stats indicated that he had a career-best 3.45 ERA. It sounds like Detroit made a very good move to lock him up for a long time.
What also makes Verlander very good and a pitcher to follow in baseball betting is his attitude. Verlander knows he is good and wants to get better. “The Hall of Fame is something I feel is attainable.” Verlander said. The Tigers really haven’t been a team that has spent a lot of money wisely but maybe that is changing. The Tigers made a number of mistakes with big contracts like the ones handed to Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson, Carlos Guillen and Jeremy Bonderman. Maybe they can start to make some good moves now with the big contract of Verlander.
MLB betting has Verlander already doing a lot in his short career and he is getting better. He is simply a consistent winner and a pitcher you want to be following in baseball betting. Ego is not always a good thing but it can drive you to be the best and that is what it has done for Verlander. He wants to be the best and he goes out and tries to prove it every year. Keep in mind that Verlander pitched 240 innings last MLB betting season. You don’t have to worry as much in baseball betting with the bullpen blowing leads when he is in the game. Also keep in mind that the Tigers signed Jose Valverde as their new closer so even if Verlander does come out of a game with the lead he is likely to hang on to it.