Astros Strong by Houston Chronicle

Author:Houston Chronicle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2017-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Verlander was spectacular in his five regular-season starts with the Astros, winning all five games and striking out 43 in 34 innings, with a 1.06 ERA. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)

The Astros later conceded to paying $19 million per year. When on Aug. 31 Luhnow and Avila agreed to the prospect package the Astros would send the Tigers – highly touted 19-year-old righthander Franklin Perez, outfielder Daz Cameron and catcher Jake Rogers – Astros owner Jim Crane gave the go-ahead for the final $1 million needed to meet the Tigers’ ask.

Luhnow was back at his in-laws’ house getting ready for dinner when he and Avila agreed the deal was done. But then came the uncertainty over whether Verlander, who has full no-trade rights, would say yes. Luhnow asked his wife to push their dinner reservation to 9:00 or 9:15 p.m. Pacific.

Back in Michigan, Verlander and fiancée Kate Upton had gone for a late dinner at about 9:30 p.m. Eastern, still not expecting a trade. But as they made the roughly five-minute walk home from The Bird & The Bread restaurant at about 11:20, Verlander’s phone rang. It was Avila.

“And then I had to make the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in baseball,” Verlander said.

Verlander’s conversation with Avila was brief. The gist: There was a deal in place, and the pitcher had to decide if he would accept. Once back at his apartment, Verlander began making calls, many of them back and forth with his agent, Mark Pieper.

“Given that period of time, I just wanted to get as much information as I could, whatever it was,” Verlander recounted in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. “‘What are we talking about in two years? What are we talking about right now? What’s the locker room like? What are these guys like? What’s the town like? … There was just a hurricane there. Obviously, they’re in bad shape as a city. What’s that like? Can I live somewhere?’ Stuff I hadn’t even thought of. I was just trying to weigh all of that.”

Within this short window of time, Verlander received a call from Astros ace Dallas Keuchel, who had heard the trade rumblings while back at his apartment in Houston. The Astros had landed in Houston earlier that evening after playing the last of their three “home” games against the Texas Rangers in St. Petersburg, Fla. It was their first night home since Harvey hit.

“‘Hey, I’m not trying to take too much of your time up. You won’t regret your decision to come here,’” Keuchel recalled this week of his message to Verlander. “‘Obviously, your window for winning in Detroit is damn near closed, and ours is wide open.’

“I figured the only thing left in his legacy is to win a World Series, because he’s pretty much done everything else. I was hoping that would resonate in his mind rather quickly, and I think it did.”

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