BASEBALLPARK

"Of course," he told Yahoo! Sports on Friday morning. "I don't play this game to make the most money. But I do feel like it would be nice to be compensated for what I feel like I've been: one of the best, if not the best, the last few years. In my career, I feel like I've been one of the top. But the last two years, I've kind of separated myself, me and a handful of other guys.

"It's not a thing where I'm like, 'Hey, I want to be the highest-paid player,' where that's the chief goal. It innately comes with my competitiveness. That's just me. That's not why I play the game. I'm good at the game because of that side of me, because I'm competitive at everything I do."

Verlander said "free agency is really cool," though he made certain to note: "I don't think you have to be a free agent to get [$200 million]," an indication that his preference is to stay with the Detroit Tigers, with whom the 30-year-old has spent his entire career.

"I think free agency is really cool and would be a great experience," Verlander said. "I would like to experience it, to be honest with you. But if Detroit comes along and says, 'Hey, here's an offer you can't turn down,' I'm not going to turn it down."

Kevin Brown, 33, signed a seven-year, $105MM deal on 12/12/1998.

Alex Rodriguez, 32, signed a ten-year, $275MM deal on 12/13/2007.

Cliff Lee, 32, signed a five-year, $120MM deal on 12/13/2010.

Albert Pujols, 31, signed a ten-year, $240MM deal on 12/08/2011.

Jayson Werth, 31, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/05/2010.

Josh Hamilton, 31, signed a five-year, $125MM deal on 12/15/2012.

Alfonso Soriano, 30, signed an eight-year, $136MM deal on 11/20/2006.

Ryan Howard, 30, signed a five-year, $125MM extension on 4/26/2010.

Jason Giambi, 30, signed a seven-year, $120MM deal on 12/18/2001.

Ken Griffey Jr., 30, signed a nine-year, $116.5MM deal on 2/11/2000.

Carlos Lee, 30, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 11/24/2006.

Zack Greinke, 29, signed a six-year, $147MM deal on 12/09/2012.

Carl Crawford, 29, signed a seven-year, $142MM deal on 12/8/2010.

David Wright, 29, signed an eight-year, $138MM deal on 12/04/2012.

Matt Holliday, 29, signed a seven-year, $120MM deal on 1/7/2010.

Joey Votto, 28, signed a ten-year, $225MM deal on 04/02/2012.

Mark Teixeira, 28, signed an eight-year, $180MM deal on 1/6/2009.

C.C. Sabathia, 28, signed a seven-year, $161MM deal on 12/20/2008 (revised as a 31-year-old on 10/31/2011). 

Manny Ramirez, 28, signed an eight-year, $160MM deal on 12/19/2000.

Adrian Gonzalez, 28, signed a seven-year, $154MM deal on 4/15/2011.

Cole Hamels, 28, signed a six-year, $144MM deal on 07/25/2012.

Johan Santana, 28, signed a six-year, $137.5MM deal on 2/2/2008.

Vernon Wells, 28, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/20/2006.

Barry Zito, 28, signed a seven-year, $126MM deal on 12/29/2006.

Mike Hampton, 28, signed an eight-year, $121MM deal on 12/12/2000.

Jose Reyes, 28, signed a six-year, $106MM deal on 12/04/2011.

Prince Fielder, 27, signed a nine-year, $214MM deal on 1/24/2012.

Matt Kemp, 27, signed an eight-year, $160MM deal on 11/14/2011.

Todd Helton, 27, signed a nine-year, $141.5MM deal on 3/1/2001.

Carlos Beltran, 27, signed a seven-year, $119MM deal on 1/13/2005.

Matt Cain, 27, signed a five-year, $112.5MM deal on 04/02/2012.

Ryan Braun, 27, signed a five-year, $105MM deal on 4/21/2011.

Ryan Zimmerman, 27, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 2/26/2012.

Evan Longoria, 27, signed a six-year, $100MM deal on 11/26/2012.

Derek Jeter, 26, signed a ten-year, $189MM deal on 2/1/2001.

Joe Mauer, 26, signed an eight-year, $184MM deal on 3/21/2010.

Felix Hernandez, 26, signed a seven-year, $175MM deal on 02/07/2013.

Troy Tulowitzki, 26, signed a six-year, $119MM deal on 11/30/2010.

Alex Rodriguez, 25, signed a ten-year, $252MM deal on 12/1/2000.

Miguel Cabrera, 24, signed an eight-year, $152.3MM deal on 3/24/2008.

Albert Pujols, 24, signed a seven-year, $100MM deal on 2/19/2004.