Jacob deGrom signs massive contract with Texas Rangers
The best pitcher in MLB is heading to the Lone Star state. Jacob deGrom, the longtime New York Met, is signing a five-year contract with the Texas Rangers. The deal is worth $185 million with a sixth-year option that could increase the deal to $222 million.
Jeff Passan of ESPN was first to break the news.
The Rangers have been no stranger to big contracts as of recently. Last offseason, the team committed more than half a billion dollars to Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Jon Gray. While their 2022 season wasn’t what they hoped, their rotation led by deGrom, Gray, and Martin Perez will do wonders in the AL West.
Trey Daubert was right from the start. Back in September, he said the Rangers were stealth suitors for the right-hander. Now the Rangers got the best in the game.
This doesn’t come as a surprise. At the beginning of November, Jon Heyman of the NY Post said that deGrom let the Rangers know that he was interested in signing with them. This Rangers team still has plenty of holes to fill, so to say they’re playoff contenders is still a stretch. But the Angels are the Angels and the A’s are in full rebuild mode. That only leaves the Astros and Mariners, which the Rangers could put up a fight against for a final Wild Card Spot.
Over in New York, Met fans are hopefully calling for the head of general manager Billy Eppler. He made no major improvements at the trade deadline and let his 101-win team choke in the Wild Card. Eppler had a chance to trade deGrom for a haul if he knew he wouldn’t come back. He also has Steve Cohen who’s the richest in baseball. There was a chance to trade him and a chance to re-sign him, and they didn’t do either. There’s a reason he didn’t work out with the Angels and now he’s ruining the Mets.
Also worth noting is Andy Martino of SNY reported that the Mets didn’t even send a final offer to deGrom because they knew he was long gone.
Despite Eppler running the franchise to the ground, the Mets clubhouse has to be hurting. Outfielder Mark Canha said when he talked to deGrom, he wanted to stay and ‘loved’ being in New York. Now, the Mets have lost him and possibly Chris Bassitt, making a once elite rotation weak and open.
It isn’t a complete victory for the Rangers, however. deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball when healthy, something he hasn’t been since 2019. He’s also 34 years old and just signed a five-year deal with a no-trade clause. As I said before, the Rangers still aren’t ready for a deep playoff run yet. They’re going to rely on deGrom to keep his production up as he continues to age, which with his history is a huge gamble. I predicted him to stay in New York for this reason, but I don’t mind seeing an AL West sign such a risky player.
Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see how deGrom does in the AL and whether he can stay healthy. These Rangers could be sneaky good depending on that rotation, and adding a few more bats behind Seager, Semien, and Nathaniel Lowe could put them in the hunt. Besides, they have one of the greatest managers in Bruce Bochy now to lead them.
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