Do Justin Verlander-Dodgers rumors really make sense?

According to MLB insider Jon Heyman, the Los Angeles Dodgers and free agent starting pitcher Justin Verlander are meeting in person on Monday to discuss if the two sides are a good fit for each other for the 2023 season and beyond.

How serious should people take the Justin Verlander rumors connecting him to the Los Angeles Dodgers?

Certainly a meeting taking place between Verlander and the Dodgers makes sense on the surface. Any team, even the pitching-rich Dodgers, would love to have Verlander step onto the mound every five days. However, there are some concerns when it comes to the Dodgers-Verlander connection.

First, if he were to sign with Los Angeles, Verlander would be added to the front of a rotation that already includes Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, and Julio Urias. That’s a stacked rotation, but there are some questions with it, including how May handles a full season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and Kershaw’s ability to stay healthy throughout the campaign. Additionally, Verlander will be 40 when Opening Day arrives next season while Kershaw will turn 35. While there is little doubt that those two were two of the top pitchers in all of baseball last season (with Verlander placing his third Cy Young Award in his trophy case), adding another year onto both of them should cause some concern for their durability throughout a full season.

MLBTradeRumors.com is predicting that Verlander will sign a three-year, $120 million deal this offseason. With that in mind, does it make more sense for the Dodgers to allocate the resources that it would take to land Verlander to another area of the team, perhaps at shortstop where it appears that Gavin Lux is the internal answer should Los Angeles not pursue one of the marquee free agent shortstops who are available?

If pitching is a need, would Los Angeles do better to fortify the back end of the rotation or bullpen than add another front-of-the-rotation starter? Could Dodgers fans look past Verlander being on the 2017 Astros team that was surrounded in controversy and eliminated Los Angeles in Game 7 of the World Series? Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times recently wrote of the Astros, “I hope those crooks never win another one.” Now, the Dodgers are talking to one of the members of that team (although Verlander has expressed regret about the decisions he made during that season).

Spending big money on a 40-year-old pitcher who has been booed countless times by Dodgers fans since the 2017 season? Does it really make sense?

Heyman reports that the Dodgers, as well as the New York Mets and Yankees and Houston Astros, still have interest in signing Verlander. Don’t be surprised if the trip to Los Angeles is more of a fact-finding mission for Verlander than a next step toward a contract.