Justin Verlander has a wrinkle in the form of a vesting year that could come back to haunt the Houston Astros if his performance decline is precipitous.

Justin Verlander is now back on the Houston Astros after a tiny little stint that almost none of us will remember with the New York Mets after a few years. The Mets have now traded aces Max Scherzer and Verlander this season and firmly put themselves in retool zone.

Meanwhile, the Astros bring back Verlander, who they would have loved to have re-signed this winter, but instead saw him sign with the New York Mets. Verlander, clearly, wants to come back as well because he needed to waive his no-trade clause to make the deal happen.

Now, however, the Astros will presumably pick the bill up on the contract the Mets procured with Verlander. While that puts them on the hook for sure in 2024, 2025 also comes with a wrinkle that could really hinder the Astros ability to maintain financial flexibility in the near future.

Justin Verlander's 2025 contract has a vesting year, what is that?

Verlander's contract for this year comes in at $43 million. Next year, he's due that same $43 million.

The contract, reported as two years, has an often unrecognized third year in 2025 if Verlander vests. A vesting clause is when a player can trigger another year on a contract if they reach a conditional performance threshold.

Verlander's 2025 year is for $35 million. The condition is for Verlander to pitch 140 innings in 2024. That's a little over 23 games of six innings. While it may be a high level for an aging pitcher, it's entirely feasible that a starting pitcher reaches that many innings in a season.

Astros financial flexibility could be hindered by Justin Verlander contract

The Astros, presumably, are picking up the bill on Verlander. While the Mets are paying some of Max Scherzer's contract for the Texas Rangers, the Astros did not have high-tier prospects to offer the Mets (they had no prospects in the top 100) so the incentive for the Mets was largely to get Verlander's contract off the books.

That means the Astros could be handcuffed in 2024 and 2025 due to Verlander, when he's 41 and 42 years old.