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The Rangers just signed the best pitcher in baseball, but there remains work to do

The Rangers agreed to a five-year contract covering the 2023-27 seasons with Jacob deGrom.

Update:
This story was originally published on Dec. 2, 2022. It's being brought back for the end of the year.

Jacob deGrom throws a fastball 98 mph, 100 on a good day. He has won a Rookie of the Year and two Cy Young Awards. By just about any metric, new or old, when healthy, he is considered the best pitcher in baseball.

As of Friday, he sits atop the starting rotation for the Rangers, an organization whose pitching history is considered inappropriate for young audiences.

The Rangers announced the 34-year-old right-hander signed a five-year deal. Three people with direct knowledge of the contract told The Dallas Morning News it is worth $185 million in guaranteed money, an average of $37 million per year. It is the second-highest annual average salary ever given a pitcher. There is also a conditional option for a sixth year that could take the contract’s worth to more than $200 million.

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It’s a nice starting point to the offseason.

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A starting point? deGrom is a true ace, the kind of pitcher and the kind of investment that should represent the finishing touch on a World Series contender. Only he isn’t. Not yet. The Rangers still have work to do after averaging 98 losses the last two seasons. They head into the MLB winter meetings, which begin Sunday in San Diego, still a proven starting pitcher short of a contending rotation. And a middle-of-the-order-bat. And probably a veteran reliever. Or two. There is still work to do.

“Our roster is not complete,” general manager Chris Young acknowledged Friday evening after rightfully gushing over landing deGrom. “We are going to look for ways to continue to improve that. Our expectation is that we are competing for the playoffs in 2023, and I’ve said that all along.”

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Young’s ability to land deGrom, whom the New York Mets had sought to retain, and primary owner Ray Davis’ willingness to spend lavishly over the last 12 months make it a tangible possibility rather than just some wait-til-next-year dream.

Since Dec. 1 of last year, Davis and company have committed $764 million to five free agents: Corey Seager ($325 million), deGrom, Marcus Semien ($175 million), Jon Gray ($56 million) and Martín Pérez ($23.5 million over two contracts). If deGrom pitches a sixth year for the Rangers, that figure could push $800 million. The group spent $593 million to buy the club out of bankruptcy in 2010.

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It is remarkable spending for a team that has never had an opening day payroll of more than $165 million. The Rangers currently have $148 million committed to seven players. By the time the team is done putting together its 2023 roster, it is likely to cross $200 million and push into the top 10 in terms of payrolls in baseball.

What is uncertain is how exactly the commitment to deGrom will impact how the Rangers allocate remaining dollars. They also have a farm system ranked among the top 10 in baseball and could potentially use some of that capital to acquire a pitcher via a trade.

“What that means in terms of specific sectors of the free agent market, I can’t say,” Young said. “This has been the focus of our time and energy this week. We will reassess over the weekend and kind of come back and explore the best ways to continue to improve our club.

“I have said this before, but I don’t think you can ever have enough starting pitching,” Young added. “We will continue to look to improve every area of our club that we feel like is a need and I think certainly every team needs more starting pitching.”

The Rangers, though, more than others. It has kind of been the story of the franchise’s 51 years in Arlington.

The rotation compiled a 4.63 ERA in 2022, the sixth highest in baseball. Despite an All-Star year by Pérez, the Rangers pitchers too often beat themselves. They walked 9.2% of the hitters they faced, tied for the highest rate in baseball. Young starters to whom the Rangers gave opportunities simply did not take them. It put stress on an inexperienced bullpen and made no lead generated by the offense safe.

At the top of the free agent market is lefty Carlos Rodón, who is expected to also receive more than $30 million per year on a long-term deal. It was widely assumed that if the Rangers signed either of deGrom or Rodón, they would have to drop down a class in other free agent signings. Then again, last winter, needing a shortstop, they signed two in Seager and Semien. Semien played second.

Since the Rangers put the finishing touches on a 94-loss season, they have re-signed Pérez to a one-year, $19.65 million deal and traded for Jake Odorizzi, whom Atlanta simply did not have room for.

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Added to Gray, it gave the Rangers some depth to the middle of the rotation, but they lacked a true top-of-the-rotation starter. deGrom, if healthy, gives them that. There is risk, though.

deGrom has pitched just a total of 156 1/3 innings over 26 starts over the last two years due to elbow inflammation that knocked him out of the second half of 2021 and a stress reaction in his right scapula that forced him to miss the first four months of 2022. He also pitched just 68 innings in 2020 due to the pandemic-shortened season.

It makes it possible the Rangers may have to proceed with some caution throughout the season. The Rangers are also likely to insure the contract to protect some of their financial risk. deGrom also underwent a physical on Friday before signing.

“There’s risk associated with every player, and specifically, every pitcher,” Young said. “But I think as we assess where we are, what our needs are, where we feel like we can go and what Jacob deGrom does for our franchise, as we try to accomplish our goals, we felt like the risk was worth it.”

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Asked directly, Young said he believed deGrom was the best pitcher in baseball.

When he’s been healthy, the stats back that up. Over his nine seasons with the Mets, deGrom won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2014, back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018-19 and made four All-Star teams.

Due to an overpowering fastball and a high-spin rate, he has averaged 10.91 strikeouts per nine innings, the second highest figure in MLB history for pitchers with at least 1,300 innings. He’s struck out 30.8% of all the hitters he faced, the highest percentage in MLB history. And his 2.52 ERA ranks third for pitchers with at least 200 starts over the last 60 years behind Sandy Koufax and Highland Park’s Clayton Kershaw.

The Rangers long dreamed of one day bringing Kershaw back home to pitch. But after a brief flirtation with them before last season, he re-signed with the Dodgers. And he agreed to another one-year deal with them quickly this offseason.

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It allowed the Rangers to shift gears to the other best pitcher of this generation.

On Friday, it made for a good starting point to the offseason’s work. But there remains work to do.

On Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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