Justin Verlander responds to 'diva' comments from New York Mets employee after being traded out of $43,333,333 deal

Justin Verlander will be best remembered for his time with the Detroit Tigers and the Houston Astros, but perhaps not with the New York Mets where he spent all of seven months. However, his record-tying $43.33 million contract will be remembered regardless.

Following his struggles with the Mets, Verlander is back with the Astros. Upon his exit, an unnamed member of the Mets said that the reigning Cy Young winner in the American League was a diva who constantly complained about the team's inferior analytics department.

Verlander has since responded on Twitter. Notably, he didn't directly name anyone or say anything about the comments.

His statement read:

"I want to say I have nothing but respect for the Mets organization and I enjoyed connecting with all of my teammates this season... new and old!! It truly was a wonderful group of people.

"That being said, we all know the success of a team is made up of more than just the players on the field, everyone's input is valuable. I'm sorry to hear that a staff member took offense to constructive criticism on how we could improve. Wishing nothing but best to the Mets moving forward."

The New York Mets attempted to pair Justin Verlander with Max Scherzer this season but the experiment failed. The two had been teammates with the Detroit Tigers and were reunited for the same $43.33 million tag.

Justin Verlander experiment fails for Mets

The Mets found themselves almost 20 games behind the Atlanta Braves when they decided to pull the plug.

They shipped Scherzer to the Texas Rangers and sent Verlander back to the Astros. They refilled their farm system and will attempt to rebuild for the future after their massive payroll fell short in 2023.

They still have Kodai Senga in the rotation and Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor in the field, so there are pieces to work with for now. It just wasn't meant to be this season.