The Texas Rangers and RHP Jon Gray have agreed to a four-year, $56 million contract according to multiple reports.
Hearing Rangers closing in on final details to complete agreement with Jon Gray. Would be their 3rd addition of the day.
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) November 29, 2021
ESPN‘s Jeff Passan reported the terms of the contract. (The venerable MLB Trade Rumors predicted this exact deal.)
Gray was once seen as a can’t-miss prospect coming out of the University of Oklahoma in 2013. But, Coors Field being Coors Field, it was difficult for Gray to amount to much for the Rockies. Gray has his best year in 2019, posting a 3.84 ERA with 150 strikeouts in 150 innings pitched, but since then the right hander posted a 6.69 ERA in 2020 and a 4.59 ERA in 2021. Gray’s 1.329 WHIP in 2021 was his best since 2018.
The 30-year-old was a trade candidate at the 2021 deadline, but the Rockies chose to keep him. Then, oddly, they didn’t extend him the qualifying offer, so they lost him with no compensation.
The Mets monitored Gray’s market for the last week, but according to Jon Morosi, the Mets have offered Max Scherzer a multi-year deal worth $40 million a season at what might be a three-year, $120 million offer in latest proposals. They just lost out on Kevin Gausman‘s services to Toronto, too.
The offseason is heating up, especially due to the looming lockout, and the Mets seem to be willing to go all-in on Scherzer… or to at least be willing to spend a record setting amount of money.
