Astros sign Verlander to 3-year deal

The Houston Astros have signed Justin Verlander to a three-year deal set to begin this season and run through 2021, the team announced on Sunday.

In 2019 the seven-time All-Star was owed $28 million in the final year of his seven-year, $180-million contract, and the subsequent two years of the new contract will be worth $66 million, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Verlander's deal is one of the most expensive contracts in Major League Baseball by average annual value. At $31.3 million per season, it ranks fifth all time, just ahead of former teammate Miguel Cabrera's $248-million contract signed prior to the 2016 season.

The 36-year-old is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career, finishing as the runner-up in American League Cy Young voting. The veteran right-hander posted his best ERA since his MVP-winning campaign in 2011, when he won the AL Cy Young and Triple Crown by leading the Junior Circuit in wins, ERA, and strikeouts.

Verlander's new extension is the latest in a series of contracts given to players already under team control, including his Astros teammates Alex Bregman and Ryan Pressly. Bregman signed a five-year, $100-million contract Friday, while right-handed reliever Pressly earned a two-year, $17.5-million deal with a vesting option for 2022 worth an additional $10 million.

The Astros are reportedly also interested in locking up Gerrit Cole, who is set to become a free agent in the upcoming offseason. Cole, 28, recently denied that any negotiations had already taken place, however.