Recently, longtime New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom signed a five-year $185 million deal with the Texas Rangers. He didn’t let the Mets match the Rangers’ offer. While this is a big loss, I don’t think it’s as bad as Mets fans are making it out to be. Given his injury history and his age, I really believe the Mets were smart not to overpay for Jacob deGrom.
Since coming into the league in 2014, Jacob deGrom has been the best pitcher in the second half of the 2010s. deGrom has a career record of 82-57, a lifetime earned run average of 2.52, and over 1600 strikeouts. He won the NL Rookie of the Year, two Cy Young’s, and made four All-Star appearances. He has also twice led the league in strikeouts and led all of baseball in earned run average once.
Prior to the 2022 season, the Mets had a hard time scoring runs. Despite offensive issues, deGrom was still able to win games and win awards. It could be argued that deGrom’s dominance is the reason why the Mets didn’t have a worse record from 2017-2021. This is how special of a pitcher Jacob deGrom has been for the Mets.
While deGrom has had a very accomplished career, he has suffered many injuries. He hasn’t started over 20 games since 2019 because of the injuries. In the past three seasons, out of the 96 possible starts, deGrom was only able to take the mound 39 times. This season, the Mets won 101 games, and deGrom only won five of those games. It was Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker, Max Scherzer, and a resurgent Carlos Carrasco who carried the load this season.
While the Mets were able to make it to the postseason, they did so as a wild-card team. This was despite being in first place in the NL East for most of the season. Jacob deGrom was very pedestrian in the month of September. He had a record of 1-3 with an ERA of 4.50 for the month. He gave up six of his nine home runs during the month of September as well. The most gut-wrenching game he pitched was in the final series against the Atlanta Braves. In that game, Atlanta tagged him for three runs, eventually resulting in a 5-2 loss. deGrom’s struggles in September were part of the reason they couldn’t clinch the division.
I believe deGrom wanted to leave the Mets the entire time. Had Jacob deGrom had an interest in coming back to the Mets, he would’ve gone back to them. deGrom is going to be turning 35 this season. The Rangers will be paying him until he’s 40 years old. He hasn’t made it through an entire season without missing starts since 2019. Given deGrom’s injury history, I’m not sure if he’ll be able to make it through the whole contract. deGrom is at the point in his career where another injury could be the end of his career. Some have started to compare his injuries and success to that of Sandy Koufax. Rangers executives will probably be cringing every time a trainer has to come onto the field to check on him.
Now that deGrom is gone, the New York Mets now have money to spend on more durable players. Their star pitchers from last season, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker, are on the market currently. If I’m Mets GM Billy Eppler, I’m prioritizing those conversations. In response to deGrom leaving, the Mets signed Justin Verlander. After all, Verlander won a Cy Young, a World Series ring and has proven to be durable. Bassitt and Walker were a big reason why the Mets were able to win 101 games and get back to the postseason. He could also perhaps correct his mistake of not adding a left-handed pitcher to the bullpen.
While losing deGrom to the Texas Rangers is tough, it’s not the end of the world. The Mets also perhaps dodged a bullet by not overpaying to keep him in New York. While DeGrom is a once-in-a-generation pitcher when healthy, he also manages to get injured badly. deGrom is very much a “high risk yet high reward” player. With the saved money, the Mets now have the flexibility to address other needs and perhaps get more durable players. To win a championship, you need players who are durable. The old saying goes, “the best ability is durability.”
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