Heyman references Rangers as deGrom suitor

MLB Rumors: The New York Mets should not re-sign Jacob deGrom, according to Jon Heyman — at least, not for what Heyman expects deGrom will be seeking in a new deal.

deGrom, the 34 year old Mets ace who has been great when he has been healthy, but who has struggled to stay on the mound, is set to opt out of his deal and hit the free agent market once the World Series is over. The numbers Heyman says he heard from three agents were 3-5 years at $40-45M per, which Heyman says the Mets should pass on.

Which wouldn’t be worthy of a post, normally. But there’s also this...

“DeGrom would never accept two for 70,” a high-ranking Mets person told me.

Well then, I say, go sign with the Rangers or someone else willing to lay out $100 million plus guaranteed for a bona fide maybe.

I mean, its a throwaway line, of course.

But I do think it is indicative of the expectation around the league that the Rangers are going to be going big for high end starting pitching this offseason. And deGrom as about as high-end as it gets.

Its been made very clear since that stunning press conference in mid=August when Rangers owner Ray Davis announced he’d fired Jon Daniels that Davis wants to win...like, yesterday. General manager Chris Young acknowledged at his season-ending press conference that Davis was “frustrated” with the team losing, and that payroll would increase in 2023.

Davis himself said a couple of months ago that the team needed a couple of starting pitchers and a bat. Granted, it doesn’t take a genius to look at the state of the team and figure out that a quality hitter who can DH or play left field and a pair of good starting pitchers would make this team look a lot better — or, dare I say, like a potential playoff team. But the organization being as forthright about this is still pretty noteworthy.

Last offseason, when the Rangers spoke openly about playing at the top of end of the market, there was a lot of scoffing among fans, a lot of people predicting the team would be bragging about the solid offers they made to players that went elsewhere. We know how that turned out.

More moves are on the horizon. And Heyman, in this piece, alludes to the fact that the Rangers are looked at as a team that is going to be extremely aggressive in getting pieces to get over the hump.

Pieces like Jacob deGrom.