Rangers’ quest for pitching could lead them to Jacob deGrom

The Rangers are intent on adding a big-time starter, and word is they may go for Jacob deGrom. Folks marvel at how MLB’s best pitcher is throwing better than ever off his 13-month layoff, and while there aren’t a lot of teams ready to take a $40 million gamble, the Rangers might.

Rangers baseball president Chris Young wouldn’t address any specific pitching targets but said they “will leave no stone unturned” in their search to upgrade pitching a year after they significantly upgraded offense.

There’s been a lot of speculation about whether the DeLand, Fla., product deGrom prefers to leave New York and go south, though most speculation centers on the Braves. From here it’s hard to see a corporate team taking that risk….

It’s a sad day when the Royals let go baseball president Dayton Moore, a fantastic baseball guy who remains the only true small-market GM to reach two straight World Series and win one. The firing surprised him, too. Expectations there were unrealistic. Moore always joked he was the only GM from Garden City Community College (he also graduated George Mason); the trend is toward Ivy Leaguers. Manager Mike Matheny, who doesn’t seem favored by players, would seem to be in peril now.

Jacob deGrom 6 scoreless innings 10 strikeouts in Mets win

Do they really want to push him before the playoffs?

Jacob deGrom doesn’t argue. He doesn’t attempt to negotiate. When pitching coach Jeremy Hefner delivers the news of how many pitches the Mets will allow deGrom to throw in a start, deGrom simply accepts it. He understands what it would look like if he successfully lobbied for more and then hurt himself again. So for now, deGrom keeps quiet.

On Saturday, that meant pitching only six innings in a 1-0 win over the Phillies at Citi Field, despite featuring near-unhittable stuff for the third time in three outings since returning from the injured list. It meant throwing only 76 pitches—the same amount he did six days earlier against the Braves—and then watching from afar as relievers Seth Lugo, Trevor May and (an uncharacteristically shaky version of) Edwin Díaz did the rest.

Mets officials insist there will come a day later this season when the limitations on deGrom disappear. deGrom himself believes it can happen within his next couple of starts.

Fangraphs: Jacob deGrom Is Back

For once, the Mets backed deGrom with some early offense. One of the strange quirks of his dominance is that it came in games where his team hardly scored, and over 91 starts from 2018 through ’21, he went only 32–21. Watch a deGrom start in those years, and it always felt like a 2–1 game in the seventh. He was masterful — and he had to be.

This year’s Mets might change that narrative; they’re fourth in baseball in runs scored per game, a far cry from the light-hitting days of recent past. They hardly needed the pitching help; they’re allowing the fourth-fewest runs in the majors this season. Adding the best pitcher in baseball — and after his two starts, I feel comfortable saying deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball again — surely won’t hurt.

Yesterday’s game ended without further scoring after Swanson’s homer, a 5–2 Mets victory. That was the last of a five-game set against Atlanta that the Mets took handily, giving them a 6.5-game lead in the NL East; per our playoff odds, they’ve eclipsed a 90% chance of winning the division. For the first time since a 2015 run to the World Series, we might be seeing deGrom in the playoffs a few months hence.

That’s assuming health, which feels sadly tenuous. Watching deGrom elicits awe, but it also elicits worry. How can his arm stand it? How can he throw so hard so consistently? Will his body continue to betray him in new ways? He’s pushing the limits of his craft, honing each pitch to a gleaming sheen and overpowering lineups with it. I’m imploring you: watch his next start. The one after that is never guaranteed, and the multi-year run he’s on is rare even in the great sweep of baseball’s history.