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Jacob deGrom’s contract with the Rangers opens the spigot of MLB free agency
Lamborghini Veneno
The launch Lamborghini Veneno, as I named Jacob deGrom, now sits in the Rangers driveway. Price tag: $185 million over five years, covering deGrom from age 35 to 39. And with the beauty of pitching you get from deGrom, the highest quality we’ve ever seen on a mound, you get all that worry about maintenance.
Forget breaking down this contract by value. No one ever bought a Lambo or a yacht and bragged about the profitability. deGrom is a luxury item: The best pitcher in baseball who needs extra rest and doesn’t consistently throw deep in games. In the last two years he has thrown 100 pitches in a game twice. He has pitched on four days’ rest in just 10 of his 26 starts and is 3-3 in those games. You are not driving this trip hard.
Over the past five seasons, from ages 30 to 34, deGrom has averaged 20 starts, 129 innings and 7 wins per season. While it would be foolish for the Rangers to expect to get 30 starts a year out of deGrom for the next five, I think he’ll average more innings per year. His mechanics are just that smooth, even better in recent years, as evidenced by the jump in speed. He is a fabulous athlete. The scapular stress reaction he suffered in April is not usually associated with any pattern of injury to the arm. His injury history is less extensive than it seems; He made virtually every start from 2017 to 2020. And by all indications, deGrom is exactly where he wants to be, which isn’t New York, where, despite his greatness, he never really put down deep roots as a beloved icon. of the franchise.
Even if they get 129 innings a year from deGrom, the Rangers, a franchise with six straight losing seasons, just signed the best pitcher on the planet. That’s what matters. Don’t talk to me about deGrom’s 39-year-old season. Signing up makes a lot of sense, as long as you don’t go crazy with the dollar cost per startup. When you sign Corey Seager for $325 million, like Texas did last year, you keep the throttle open, just like the Padres did after signing Manny Machado for $300 million (after eight straight losing seasons) and the Phillies after signing Bryce Harper for $330 million (after six consecutive losing seasons). Three years later, San Diego and Philadelphia were playing for a spot in the World Series.
Baccellieri: Jacob deGrom is worth the risk for Rangers
Let’s be clear: The Rangers were 38 games worse than Houston last season. That gap is still big. But Texas has young pitchers on the rise and a solid core of position players. He was fifth in runs scored in the league last season. With deGrom, new manager Bruce Bochy in the dugout, Chris Young in the front office, and the rest of the winter to spend (plus an extended postseason), they can start thinking about competing for a wild-card spot ASAP. season.
With deGrom’s departure, the book is now closed on one of the most remarkable and unfulfilled foundations of young pitching we’ve seen in the modern era. The Mets won a pennant in 2015 with Noah Syndergaard, then 23, Steven Matz, 25, Matt Harvey, 27 and deGrom, 28, in the rotation and Zack Wheeler, 25, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. . New York hasn’t won another playoff series since. Syndergaard, Wheeler and deGrom left as free agents. Matz and Harvey were traded for the combination of a backup catcher who lasted half a season and three pitchers that gave them a combined two wins.
deGrom was a two-time Cy Young winner while in New York, but never really entrenched as a club legend.
Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
Today the Mets are left with a rotation of Max Scherzer, 38, Carlos Carrasco, 36, David Peterson, 27 and Tylor Megill, 27, which means the price went up to convince Justin Verlander or Carlos Rodón to sign there.
Perhaps deGrom’s departure was in the works. After all, he stood his ground before the season he was going to opt out of. He didn’t think to wait and see how the season unfolded. He seemed clinical, emotionless for a lifelong Met. The Rangers were willing to put more years on the table, and when you’re 34 years old with a history of injuries and the most powerful fastball and breaking pitch in recorded starting pitching history, that’s worth more than the 13 years you spent in an organization If deGrom was looking for a good reason to leave, Texas gave it to him. The Rangers also have a reputation among players as a “red carpet” organization for the way they treat players and their families. Your local ballpark is second to none when it comes to amenities and technology. The Dodgers raved during the 2020 playoffs in the Texas bubble about their “home field advantage”: As the highest seed, they used the home facility at Globe Life Field.
It’s further proof that when you allow a star player onto the open market, your chances of re-signing that star are drastically reduced. Since 2010, 48 free agents have signed contracts worth $100 million or more. Forty-four of them changed teams: 92% of stars don’t return when they hit free agency. The only stars to stay with their clubs at that salary level in that time were Chris Davis with the Orioles (after the 2015 season), Stephen Strasburg with the Nationals (2019) and Yoenis Céspedes (2016) and Edwin Díaz (2022). with the Mets.
Keep that in mind as Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Verlander, Dansby Swanson and Rodon remain at the top of the free agency market. We’ve already seen the Astros pay Josê Abreu, coming off a career-low slugging percentage, more money for his 36-38 seasons than he earned for his 33-35 age. We’ve seen the Rays make Zach Eflin, with no ERA under four in any full season, the richest free agent in franchise history. We’ve seen Diaz become the highest-paid reliever in history. We’ve seen Rafael Montero, with 29 saves through age 32, cash in as a closer. And now we see deGrom turn durability questions into a five-year guarantee.
The tap is on, folks. This is the first full free agent market with the new CBA and more available playoff spots. You can thank the Phillies for proving that a sixth seed is not fool’s gold. Before this spending season ends, he’s likely to have around 21 $100 million free agent contracts in the last two years, as many as the previous six years combined. This game has always been about the stars, but maybe now more than ever. Curb appeal, more than gas mileage, is what draws attention.
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