Jacob deGrom is going to opt-out of the remainder of his contract with the Mets to become a free agent once the World Series is over despite missing significant time during the 2022 season.
One rival told Jon Heyman of the New York Post that the Texas Rangers will “pony up” for the star pitcher.
Down the stretch for the Mets, deGrom had an uncharacteristic 6.00 ERA over his final four regular season starts in which he allowed at least three runs in each of them. The two-time Cy Young winner bounced back to lead the Mets to their first postseason history since 2015 when he tossed six innings of two-run ball in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.
DeGrom, 34, made his 2022 season debut on August 2 and proceeded to dominate with a 1.66 ERA and 63 strikeouts compared to only four walks in his first seven starts of the season. The Florida native’s overall numbers for the year in 11 starts were a 3.08 ERA, 2.13 FIP, 0.75 WHIP, and 102 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings.
Despite deGrom having pitched only 156 innings over the past two seasons, he’s clearly still one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball and could command a contract similar to the one Max Scherzer got from the Mets last year of three years, $130 million. Where that type of contract comes from remains to be seen, but there’s certainly going to be heavy interest all over the league in the Mets ace.
The Rangers made a big splash last season when they gave infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager $175 million and $325 million respectively. The signings didn’t stop the Rangers from losing 94 games this season led to the firing of manager Chris Woodward and president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. One of the biggest reasons for the Rangers only 68-win season was the 4.63 ERA they got from their starting pitchers. DeGrom would obviously feel an important need for the Rangers and also give a franchise trying to rebuild credibility as well.
The Rangers and Mets are just the start of a likely long list of teams that will eventually have interest in deGrom pitching for them in 2023 and beyond.
