Breaking Down Jacob deGrom's Rangers Contract
The Texas Rangers will pay new starting pitcher Jacob deGrom $30 million in the first year of his five-year contract, according to multiple reports on Friday.
The Rangers did not announce terms of the deal. But The Dallas Morning News, The Athletic and MLB.com all had the terms via a source.
deGrom’s five-year deal includes a significant raise in the second and third years of the deal, as deGrom will make $40 million in each season. From there, the money takes its foot off the gas just a bit, as the Rangers will pay him $38 million in 2026 and $37 million in 2027.
The average annual value of deGrom’s deal is $37 million, which will be the luxury tax figure. With his $30 million salary in 2023, he will be paid slightly less than shortstop Corey Seager, who will make $35.5 million next season.
deGrom’s salary will then overtake Seager’s in 2024 and he’ll be the highest-paid Rangers player for the remainder of his contract.
Those yearly figures bring the value of deGrom’s contract to $183 million.
The question is how much deGrom might make in the sixth year of the contract, which is a conditional option. That figure wasn’t disclosed. But the conditional option year will take deGrom to age 40, assuming it’s triggered.
ESPN reported that the sixth year could take the contract to $222 million.
The Rangers announced the deal on Friday after deGrom passed his physical. At $37 million, deGrom’s contract is the second-highest annual value of any starting pitcher’s salary, behind only Max Scherzer, who signed with the New York Mets last year and makes an average salary of $43 million.
deGrom had pitched for the Mets his entire career before his agreement with the Rangers on Friday.
deGrom joins three veteran Rangers starters under contract for 2023 — Martín Pérez, Jon Gray and Jake Odorizzi.
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