Texas Rangers' Signing of deGrom Changes AL West Landscape
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The Texas Rangers just signed starting pitcher Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million deal on Friday evening. The move by itself in a vacuum doesn't change much, but when combined with last offseason's signings of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, it spells a changing landscape in the American League West.
Signing the most talented pitcher in baseball for five years, despite injury history, shows a shift in the Rangers' philosophy towards contention. Almost $700 million has been committed to marquee signings in the last 12 months and more is likely to come.
Combine that with Texas' top-ranked farm system that features top prospects such as Josh Jung, Jack Leiter, Evan Carter, and Kumar Rocker, and the possibilities are endless. The Rangers will have plenty of MLB-ready talent to supplement their roster while also having plenty of ammunition to pull off high-profile trades this winter and at next year's trade deadline.
And while Texas may not be quite ready to compete for the divisional title in 2023, they will raise some noise in the Wild Card race while also positioning themselves for a true run in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Houston Astros are not sitting idly by. The signing of free agent first baseman José Abreu, while also entertaining the idea of bringing back Justin Verlander and acquiring All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, proves that the Astros know they need to continue to re-load to maintain their dominance in the AL West.
But, like Houston in years past, the Rangers have a fully stocked farm system that has the ability to provide elite production at the MLB level for pennies on the dollar. That luxury is what has allowed the Astros to spend dollars on elite free agents in years past, and now it is affording Texas the same opportunity.
The blueprint is the same in both cases.
For that reason, the Astros' dominance in the division very well could be threatened in the seasons to come. deGrom's new deal is but one drop, albeit a very large one, in the bucket of moves the Rangers are making to help position themselves to overtake Houston.
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