Texas Rangers Receive Brutal Assessment for Recent Free Agent Megadeal

As the Texas Rangers began preparations for the 2023 MLB season, they knew their pitching staff needed to be upgraded, and more specifically, the starting rotation.

In 2022, when they won 68 games, they received stellar production from Martin Perez, who had a 5.1 WAR. Unfortunately, the other three pitchers who started at least 24 games, Jon Gray, Glenn Otto and Dane Dunning, combined for a WAR of 3.1.

That led to the Rangers making a huge splash during the offseason following the disappointing showing.

They went right to the top of the market, poaching ace Jacob deGrom away from the New York Mets.

It was not cheap, as the two sides agreed to a five-year, $185 million deal, which is one of the top 25 most expensive free-agent deals in MLB history.

Texas knew there were some risks involved as deGrom had struggled at times to stay healthy. In his last three seasons with the Mets, which includes the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, he made 38 starts combined.

However, the risk was seen as a worthwhile one.

When the two-time Cy Young Award winner is on the mound, he produces at a high level. An argument could be made that he has been the most dominant pitcher in the game.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, that dominance hasn’t been able to shine with any regularity.

deGrom has spent nearly his entire tenure with the franchise watching from the sidelines, as he has made nine starts in two campaigns, throwing only 41 innings.

As a result, it should come as no surprise that this megadeal received an “F” grade from Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report in his piece going over the 25 largest contracts handed out in free agent history.

“Despite injuries limiting him to just 26 starts in his final two seasons with the Mets, deGrom still landed a huge contract from the Rangers in free agency. After making just six starts in 2023 and watching from the sidelines during the team's run to a World Series title, he was limited to just two appearances this past season, tossing a combined 41 innings in 2023 and 2024 while earning $70 million. There is still time to salvage the contract, but it has been a disaster to this point.”

The tantalizing potential that deGrom has still seems to be present.

Despite the limited workload, he has still managed to produce a 1.2 WAR.

Extrapolate that over the course of a full season, and he remains one of the best pitchers in the game.

The question is, will he ever make it through an entire campaign healthy again?

He isn’t getting any younger, turning 37 in June, and he has not made it through an entire season since 2019.

Texas certainly hopes he can provide the team with more in 2025 than he has in the first two years of the deal. But, the failing grade is an appropriate one given how little return on investment the franchise has received to this point.