Three-time Cy Young Award winner predicted to swap spots with Blue Jays veteran

One of the areas of need for the Toronto Blue Jays this offseason has been starting pitching. Despite having Shane Bieber already opt in to remain with the team, the departure of both Chris Bassitt and Max Scherzer to free agency has left a least one hole in the rotation heading into the 2026 MLB season.

With that in mind, Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has come up with some bold predictions for the 2025-26 offseason free agent market. Just like how the Blue Jays landed Scherzer last offseason, they have been predicted to land another former Cy Young winner. This time around, that elite pitcher is none other than Justin Verlander, while the Giants are expected to grab Max Scherzer.

Does this Verlander prediction excite Blue Jays fans?

Verlander is a three-time Cy Young winner and nine-time All-Star during his elusive 20-year MLB career. With a lifetime bWAR of 82.2, a stellar 266-158 record, along with a 3.32 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 3553 strikeouts in 3567 2/3 total innings over 555 career starts, the 42-year-old veteran will be a surefire future Hall of Famer.

But more importantly, as Castrovince pointed out, even at age 42 this past season with the San Francisco Giants, Verlander proved to be extremely durable. Unlike Scherzer, who had his injury woes to deal with in 2025 with the Blue Jays, Verlander would churn out 29 starts with the Giants while averaging greater than five innings per start.

On top of that, he pitched well too, sporting a tidy 3.85 ERA, with 137 strikeouts in 152 innings of work. In addition, Verlander had no issues with the long ball despite some diminished pitching velocity, allowing a rate of less than one home run per nine innings.

There have been many elite pitchers that have continued to be effective even well past their prime, with Nolan Ryan, Charlie Hough and Jamie Moyer being perfect examples. Outside of his 2024 outlier campaign in which he posted an ERA over five, Verlander appears to be following along the same track as his predecessors, as he is still a solid pitching option even though he's now into his 40s.

More notably, by relying less on his fastball and mixing in a good dose of sliders, curveballs, change-ups and sweepers in recent years, his ongoing success looks to be much more sustainable than one would think.

The Blue Jays were once in on Verlander during the the 2021-2022 offseason, but failed to reel him in when all was said and done. But even the ageless wonder himself said that he actually did consider Toronto as a landing spot at the time. Well, the Blue Jays have that opportunity once again this offseason and if they are successful this time around, Toronto fans should definitely start getting excited for the upcoming year.