Verlander's grinning so much because he'll now make more money wiping his ass than he did in his first 5 years of pro ball

Forget everything I said before -- The Tigers will ink their flame throwing ace to a longterm deal as early as Thursday.  80 second dance party, starting now.

Via Freep:

A person familiar with the negations says the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander have agreed to an $80-million, five-year contract.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity tonight because the deal had not been announced. The person said the contract could be completed as soon as Thursday.

Verlander won a career-high 19 games with a career-best 3.45 ERA last season. He is 65-43 with a 3.92 ERA in four full seasons with the Tigers.

That means the Tigers will have a formidable 1-2-3 for many years to come.  Porcello and Scherzer are still on their rookie contracts and will not be eligible for free agency until they have been in the league for six years.  If their talents come into fruition, and it's more likely than not that they will (especially Porcello), the Tigers could essentially have three aces taking the ball every fifth day, three days in a row, for the next 4-5 years.  SCARY.

Verlander earns $2 million more than the deal Felix Hernandez just signed, so the Tigers didn't extend too far at all beyond the market value.  If you consider how great Verlander has been since he entered the bigs, and that he's made $7.6 M in his first five years since being drafted, this (significant raise) is well deserved and worth it for the Tigers.  No word on how the money will be distributed over the years, but I assume it'll be ascending similar to Felix's.

Now the Tigers can start negotiating with Johnny Damon... and I think they should.

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