Justin Verlander’s decision to sign with the New York Mets was a big win for amateur Twitter detectives everywhere.
News broke on Monday that the reigning American League Cy Young winner Verlander has agreed to a big contract with the Mets. Verlander is replacing Jacob deGrom, who just signed with the Texas Rangers, and is reuniting with ex-Detroit Tigers teammate Max Scherzer.
Something interesting preceded the news though. On Sunday, the day prior, some eagle-eyed Twitter users noticed that Mets owner Steve Cohen recently began following Verlander on the platform. It seemed a bit out the ordinary based on the regular pattern of apparent behavior by Cohen on Twitter.

Steve Cohen just started following Justin Verlander on here. Take it as you may🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/wkfEQQShVC
— Casey (@CaseyJ_516) December 4, 2022
Steve Cohen is following Justin Verlander on Twitter. The only other ACTIVE players that aren’t a Met or were a Met are Trevor Bauer and Andrew McCutchen. #lgm #mets pic.twitter.com/AmJnV3ffHA
— Metsnewsrumors (@metsnewsrumors) December 4, 2022
Less than 24 hours after fans noticed this, Verlander was officially a Met.
Twitter bread crumbs are always a hot topic among hopeful fans, especially during the offseason. More often times than not though, it ends up being a whole bunch of nothing (even with the Mets themselves in the past). But with Cohen’s follow of Verlander manifesting into an actual agreement, social media Sherlocks have finally gotten their long-awaited moment.