Going into the offseason, there was a lot of smoke around the idea that the Atlanta Braves could sign Jacob deGrom. There were rumors that deGrom wanted to play in Atlanta and that combined with the fact that he is from the South and because he is, well, awesome led to a lot of fans thinking that this could actually happen.
Unfortunately, the Braves payroll and, more importantly, shortstop situation made that possibility extremely unlikely. Even if the Braves hadn’t given Charlie Morton $20 million to come back in 2023, its hard to construct a payroll with Jacob deGrom on it that also solves the arguably more pressing issues on the roster.
Well, deGrom has a new team now…and thankfully, he is no longer in the National League East.
BREAKING: Right-hander Jacob deGrom has signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, sources tell ESPN. Physical is passed. Deal is done. Includes conditional sixth-year option that would take total deal to $222 million. Full no-trade clause. A massive haul.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 3, 2022
Jacob deGrom is no longer on the Mets and we are happy
Again, deGrom getting signed by the Braves was always a bit of a pipedream, but one real upside is that he is no longer on the Mets. New York really wanted him back and now they have basically have to sign one of the big name pitchers on the market and that pitcher is very likely to not be as good as prime deGrom. Texas has been throwing around some real money the last couple of offseasons and with this move, they did the Braves a favor.
There isn’t a great way to predict how much damage would do against the Braves from 2023 and beyond, but it sure isn’t hard to remember how much damage he did to them when he was with the Mets. In 28 games against the Braves in his career (it feels like more), deGrom had a 2.17 ERA with 233 strikeouts in 178.2 innings of work.
Yeah, we won’t miss him one bit, so thanks Texas!
Where do the Mets go from here?
The reality is that the Mets did a lot of their damage last year when they nearly won the division without deGrom in the fold, so they could theoretically be okay. However, it is clear that they want want to bolster a rotation that could potentially lose multiple players. One of the top pitchers on the first agent market that had already been connected to the Mets is Carlos Rodon who would be a good get for New York despite his innings limitations.