Ken Rosenthal on Twitter: “Deal is pending a physical.” / Twitter

Judge gets PAID!

Deal is pending a physical. https://t.co/ptJ08JyrGU

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 7, 2022

Jacob deGrom signs with Rangers

What a HORRIFIC contract! It’s an expensive contract that bases value on hope. The Rangers HOPE he can be healthy enough to provide them value. It’s the kind of contract that gets a GM fired.

DeGrom turns 35 next June. He pitched 64.1 innings in 2022 and 92 innings in 2021.

I expect they went five years to lower the AAV. Of course, it’s a great contract for DeGrom, especially considering he’ll pay no state tax when he pitches in Texas.

It’s a shocker for sure.

Although it might not seem like it now, the Rangers did Mets fans a favor.

The Rangers pulled off a stunner ahead of next week’s Winter Meetings, signing ace right-hander Jacob deGrom to a five-year free-agent contract on Friday night. The deal will pay deGrom $185 million, a source told MLB.com; the club has not confirmed the value of the contract.

2023 Top 50 Free Agents | FanGraphs Baseball

A full season of deGrom starts? Will that really be a thing again?

Ben’s Take
What would teams pay for a guaranteed full season of deGrom starts? No one will say, obviously, but my estimation is that several playoff locks would pay an astronomical sum. There’s no better bet to deliver a Cy Young caliber season, and his talent is magnified in the postseason; if you’re a team on the cusp of getting a playoff bye, a healthy deGrom is legitimately the best player in baseball you could add. Two deGrom starts in a Division Series if necessary? That’s a dream scenario for any contender.

Of course, you can’t guarantee health for deGrom, and that’s kind of the point. Two straight years of scary-sounding injuries and limited availability have put a damper on the prospects of the best inning-for-inning pitcher since Pedro Martinez. Can he keep throwing this hard and stay on the field? Can he even dial it back? There are no answers to these questions; teams will have to weigh them on their own. I think that gives the Mets a bit of an advantage when it comes to bringing him back, as they have more data than anyone else.

Even accounting for that risk, I think deGrom will set a record for average annual value. The top end is just so high; deGrom is better than any other pitcher in baseball, as you can see from his rate statistics up above. The combination of adding a pitcher of deGrom’s caliber for the playoffs and preventing your well-heeled opponents from doing the same is worth a fortune; baseball doesn’t always come down to the best two teams clashing, but when it does, you can bet the Dodgers would be willing to write a novelty-sized check to have deGrom on their side of the matchup. Are there risks? Absolutely. But in my eyes, teams will stomach them.

131 Players Become XX(B) Free Agents

List of new free agents.

IT’S THE CUBS’ WORLD NOW

Not to spoil the ending, but:

But the Cardinals aren’t doomed. They still have a solid lineup, a solid rotation and a solid bullpen, and you’d have to think they’ll add somebody. But for years, some fans have claimed, wrongly, that Cardinals-Cubs isn’t a real rivalry because the Cards have always been so much better than the Cubs. This, not coincidentally, is the same thing Yankees fans used to say about the Red Sox, before Epstein took over there as well. Now, some have said, in the wake of the Cubs’ signing of Heyward, that this ratchets up the rivalry.

But if anything, I believe it dampens it. Even before Friday, the Cubs were a better team than the Cardinals in just about every way. Now that the Cubs took the Cardinals’ best player, the gap between these teams have widened. If anyone needs to prove this is a rivalry, it’s the fading Cardinals.