00:00And I mentioned earlier, we learned today that after 21 seasons in Major League Baseball,
00:07the Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander announces that he's going to retire at the end of 2026.
00:15I really thought he had already retired, or at least should have, five years ago.
00:20But after a couple of horrific outings earlier this year,
00:26the 43-year-old who signed a one-year $13 million deal with the Tigers to return to them,
00:34I don't know that they got their money's worth there, tried to come back, has a hamstring injury.
00:39He's not even throwing off the mound yet.
00:42And now he's going to retire at the end of the year.
00:46Surefire Hall of Famer, Tom, in your mind, 266 wins, I think, overall.
00:54All the wins, the Cy Youngs, the World Series, this is a situation where it's very simply more like both
01:01things can be true.
01:02Verlander has been terrible the last few years.
01:05The Mets, when he went back to the Astros, San Francisco, he's been terrible.
01:10There's no way around it.
01:12He's also one of the best pitchers that we've seen over the last 20 years.
01:15And he should have retired a couple of years ago.
01:18Both things are true.
01:19He's going to go to the Hall of Fame.
01:20He had a fantastic career.
01:21He has awards.
01:22He has, you know, this, that, the other thing that I said, the Cy Youngs, the World Series,
01:26all the postseason success you could possibly want.
01:28But he needed to retire multiple years ago.
01:31And it was an egregious contract that the Tigers gave him.
01:34They want to have some farewell tour for him because he started his career there.
01:36Do whatever you want.
01:37But $13 million is crazy.
01:40That's just absolutely bonkers.
01:43And I get, I mean, 23 years, you think he would have somehow gotten to, he would have gotten
01:49somewhere along the line to give him 300 wins, but did not get it.
01:56266 total wins, but a boatload of strikeouts.
01:58And like you said, Cy Young awards.
02:00He was truly for a, more than a decade, like one of the best pitchers we have seen in a
02:06very, very long time.
02:08I do think he's a, I don't want to say unanimous, but he's got to be a first ballot.
02:12No?
02:13Yes.
02:13I would say absolutely first ballot.
02:15And anyone that doesn't want to vote for him, I assume they just have some personal grudge.
02:19I mean, what, what's the argument against?
02:21I don't, I mean, why would you make him wait?
02:24No, there should be no reason for him to wait for sure.
02:27Like again, Scherzer is the same situation.
02:29Scherzer has not been good the last few years, but when he's ready, he should be going in
02:33first time.
02:35I agree.
02:36Two monster guys there for decades here in major league baseball.
02:41But he will get to go on the farewell tour.
02:44That's for sure.
02:44The Tigers announced that earlier.
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