Jacob deGrom: '30 or More Starts' for Rangers
Jacob deGrom is 34 years old. He can’t do anything about that.
Durability is going to be a question anytime a team signs a pitcher that age to a five-year contract, no matter their history. deGrom’s five-year, $185 million deal invites that level of scrutiny. So does his recent injury history
deGrom made it clear that he has one goal during his time with the Rangers.
“The goal is to go out there and make 30-plus stars every year,” deGrom said.
That has been an issue the past three seasons for the New York Mets, though he can’t be blamed for only making 12 starts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
In 2021 deGrom made just 15 starts, but he made the National League All-Star team and finished with a 7-2 record with a 1.08 ERA. He even finished ninth in Cy Young voting, even though elbow inflammation ended his season shortly after the All-Star Break.
Last season deGrom had a stress reaction in his right scapula during spring training and wasn’t able to pitch until August. It’s not a common injury, and deGrom made that point on Thursday.
“It was a weird injury, but I was able to finish the year strong and the goal is to go out there and take the ball every fifth day for the Texas Rangers and put us in the best position I can to win those games,” deGrom said.
deGrom joined the Mets for their run to the postseason and finished 5-4 with a 3.08 ERA.
During his press conference with Texas, he didn’t really address what he had done the past two seasons to help mitigate those injuries. But his 2021 and 2022 injuries really don’t line up with his injury history earlier in his career.
Before the pandemic, deGrom was a durable pitcher. He made 30 or more starts in four of his first six seasons, including his two Cy Young years of 2018 (10-9, 32 starts) and 2019 (11-8, 32 starts). He spent time on the injured list three times from 2014-19.
Now, deGrom is coming off of a stretch in which he’s made fewer than 20 starts in each of his last three seasons.
He knows there will be scrutiny. But deGrom won’t be the only one.
Four of the Rangers’ five projected starters missed significant time last year due to injury.
Jon Gray missed more than two months with three different injuries, most notably a strained oblique in August that derailed a quality two-month stretch from the club’s top pitching acquisition of last offseason.
Jake Odorizzi missed two months due to injury with the Houston Astros and was later traded to Atlanta.
Andrew Heaney — signed during the Winter Meetings — has a long injury history and missed a good portion of the 2022 season due to injuries with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Martín Pérez was the only one of the five to make every start last season.
The Rangers will be counting on that kind of durability from deGrom, and not just in 2023.
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