It’s not often a team loses a Hall of Fame-caliber, multi-Cy Young Award-winning talent and has the ability to replace them with another.
Three days after former ace Jacob deGrom inked a 5-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, the Mets rebounded with a 2-year, $86 million contract for AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander.
It’s an interesting turn of events. At the end of the season, it was thought that deGrom was gone and wanted nothing to do with the Mets. Then, as the weeks went by, it seemed maybe he would come back to Flushing after all.
Finally, in the blink of an eye, he was over and out to Texas. deGrom’s contract is the third in a massive spending spree over the course of two years for the Rangers. Last year’s free-agent signings, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, seemed to be the start of their launch to the top, but the team as a whole fell on their face a bit.
The Rangers felt the piece they needed was that big time arm, and they hope deGrom is that piece. deGrom is coming off yet another injury-riddled season that saw him make just 11 starts going 5-4.
The Mets, in a weird way, may benefit from this. They took the money they offered to deGrom and turned it over to Verlander to fill that hole.
Verlander will be a full season removed from Tommy John surgery and has added another Cy Young award on his résumé, but will also be going into his age-40 season.
In 2022, he posted an 18-4 record in 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA, the only pitcher in MLB with a sub-2.00 ERA. He also pitched 175 innings, good for 34th among qualified starters, so he wasn’t overworked.
It’s a little different than Max Scherzer being asked to take on an intense workload right before free agency, as well as being diagnosed with a “dead arm.”
While it may look good on paper, just how actually effective it will be is yet to be seen. Scherzer was good for the Mets in the regular season, but labored late and in his playoff start against San Diego.
The Verlander contract has a third-year option, so if he does show some durability and is able to pitch well, the Mets may have picked up a better, more reliable option after letting deGrom walk. deGrom was responsible for the Mets lone playoff victory this year, but then again, he was the only one that received good enough run support.
The Mets have an owner that likes to spend and it is admirable they want to fortify a good rotation, but the question now is, where do the rest of the pitchers and the offensive support come from?
The departure of deGrom also means the trio of he, Harvey, and Syndergaard are now all off the Mets, the last connection held to that World Series appearance in 2015.
A new era is coming to Queens, and it’ll be ushered in with perhaps the best two pitchers in baseball.
