How was Justin Verlander convinced to become a Met? The short answer: Steve Cohen.
A day after introducing Kodai Senga, the Mets were back at it at Citi Field on Tuesday, this time officially welcoming the ace to New York and to a top of the rotation that will feature a 1-2 punch of Verlander and former teammate Max Scherzer.
During Verlander's news conference, after GM Billy Eppler detailed the process that led to Verlander signing with the Mets -- saying with a grin at one point that he simply didn't let Verlander's agent leave the hotel room at the Winter Meetings until the deal was done -- Verlander kept coming back to the impact his conversations with Cohen had on his decision to sign.
"From the beginning, I think Steve and Billy reached out very early on and expressed their interest," Verlander said. "And I had a lovely conversation with Steve in the first week or so of my free agency, and we really didn't talk much about baseball. It was more getting to know one another, and it gave me such a positive vibe for what his vision of this franchise is, and that he wants to make this franchise amazing.
"To follow that up, speaking with Billy and the rest of the staff -- Buck (Showalter) -- they all share that same vision and passion to do whatever is necessary to make this a championship-caliber organization again. And really, that's what it came down to for me was wanting to be a part of this vision moving forward. And obviously this organization took a gigantic step forward last year, had a great season. I think it's only going to continue in the right direction."
Verlander's comments about Cohen, and specifically Cohen's desire to connect with his players on a personal level, is something that has been echoed a lot by the players -- most recently by Brandon Nimmo when he was officially reintroduced as a Met last week.
And before signing with the Mets, one of Verlander's follow-up questions to Eppler was about how the Mets planned to go about filling what was at the time some really big voids on the big league roster.
When Verlander signed, the only major free agent the Mets had secured was closer Edwin Diaz. Everything else about the offseason, including the future of Nimmo and makeup of the starting rotation and bullpen beyond Diaz, was up in the air.
And the above is why Verlander said it was a "leap of faith" for him to sign so quickly, before he knew exactly what the roster would look like.
Since signing Verlander, the Mets have re-signed Nimmo, signed Senga and Jose Quintana to bolster the rotation, and addressed the bullpen by trading for Brooks Raley and signing David Robertson. And more moves are expected.
"I think that leap of faith has paid off and obviously the surrounding cast, the players this organization has brought in are nothing short of incredible," Verlander explained. "I cannot wait to be part of something amazing, and hopefully be a small piece of making that vision that Billy and Steve and Alex (Cohen) have for this organization, which is to be a championship-caliber ball club and hopefully winning it all."