Jacob DeGrom Signs Five-Year Deal With Rangers

Jacob deGrom signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, Jeff Passan of ESPN reported Friday evening.

The deal has reportedly already been completed, with the physical being passed and signing being finalized. It includes an option for a sixth year that could take the deal up to as high as $222 million. There is also a full no-trade clause.

The Rangers officially announced the deal shortly after Passan’s report.

“I wish him well,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said of deGrom, per Andy Martino of SNY. “He has the right to choose his team. Now this team has to move on to the next thing.”

DeGrom, 34, has spent his entire career with the Mets organization, ever since he was drafted in the ninth round of the 2010 MLB Draft. He had a tremendous career in the orange and blue from 2014-2022, posting a 2.52 ERA in 1,326 innings. He won Rookie of the Year in 2014 with a 2.69 ERA in 22 starts. He also won back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2018 and 2019, and received votes in four other years. He was named an All-Star four times.

DeGrom made only 11 starts this year after being delayed by an injury, but he still posted a 3.08 ERA and 14.3 K/9, with his only struggle coming in the home run department.

The Mets were involved in discussions to potentially keep the right-handed ace, but instead he goes to a Texas team that lost 94 games last season. This deal will keep him in a Rangers uniform until, at the very least, close to his 40th birthday. Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the Mets never got to the stage of submitting a final offer.

Despite not returning to New York as many fans would have preferred, deGrom will go down as one of the best pitchers in Mets history.