Joker Marchant 2-18.jpg

Blue skies hover over Joker Marchant Stadium on Wednesday. Pitchers and catchers are set to report Thursday.

(Chris Iott | MLive Media Group)

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Justin Verlander touched upon several topics -- in addition to his own performance and preparation -- in a nearly 15-minute interview with a group of Detroit Tigers beat writers. Here are some of the highlights:

On how he assesses the Tigers at this point:

"I talked to Alex (Avila) about this and he said he kind of likes being in a position where everybody's not picking us to win the division. ... I said, 'Yeah, you know, I think people just like to talk.' ESPN and MLB Network, all the moves in the AL Central, it's something to talk about. It's cool. 'Look what the Sox did. The Indians are always good. The Royals were the pennant winners last year. What did the Tigers do? They're aging.'

"But if you had them put a bunch of money on somebody in the division, who do you think they're taking? It's easy to talk about, easy to say, 'Yeah, I will take the White Sox.' But if you had to put a bunch of money on it, mortgage the future, I think you have to take us. I still believe we are the team to beat. You look around this (clubhouse), I would take us. Obviously I am a bit biased. But look around this lockerroom. There is a wealth of talent. I think we have just as good a chance as we've had in the past. Is the division better? Yeah. But I still think we're the best team."

RELATED: Justin Verlander says he is open to changing approach, not sure whether he needs to just yet

On Max Scherzer:

"I wish him the best and sure I wish he was here. But that was his decision. I don't think you can be upset at him. We had a lot of players fight and give up their livelihood to create free agency. Max pays attention to that stuff. He's a numbers guy and he wanted to test the market."

Justin Verlander

On whether it will be weird to see Scherzer in another uniform:

"No. I think everybody saw this coming a year ago. If you didn't, you're blind."

On the idea that it was inevitable that the Tigers were going to have to break up rotation:

"I feel like they tried pretty damn hard (to keep Scherzer). I feel like that was a pretty dog gone hard effort."

On which pitcher he's seen so far who has impressed him:

"Watching (Shane Greene) throw his bullpen, that was impressive. He's very deceptive, especially from behind. You don't see anything. You don't see the ball. It just kind of pops out from behind his ear."

On his bullpen sessions so far:

"They've gone really well. Felt good. Arm feels great. Obviously way ahead of the curve, especially as opposed to last year. But everything seems crisper. It just seems like more quality pitches."

On his motivation to add weight:

"I just lost a lot of weight last year. I think that was the lightest I had been in years. After surgery I got on the scale and I was like 210. I'm 237 right now. I think I got back up to around 220 during the season, but it's kind of like you're behind the eight ball. You have surgery and it's like I have to get out there and pitch. I can't really worry about hitting the weight room. I have to do everything I can to be on the mound. Obviously, that's the main focus. This year it's a bit different. I'm able to focus on other things, get my strength back and then get on the mound."

On talking with Tigers on adjusting his pitch mix:

"I've talked to them about it before. I think it's a little unfair to judge on last season. I think it's a different story if I go out there this year and it's the same thing, then definitely some adjustments. I think they'll start to figure that out pretty early on. I'm not going to judge changing my entire career based on an injury that plagued me last year. I don't think that's the right way to approach things. I think it's adjust on the fly and see where it takes me. I've been tinkering with some things. I can make adjustments if need be."

On the possibility of adding a new pitch:

"Maybe. That kind of goes in the same, see where we're at and if I need to make adjustments, I will."

On whether he's looking forward to proving people wrong:

Without waiting for the answer to be completed: "Yes."

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