The Rangers placed Jacob deGrom on the injured list on April 29 with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The two-time Cy Young winner had left his previous start early with some forearm discomfort, the second time this season he’d been forced to depart an outing for health reasons.
While deGrom is technically able to return to action this weekend, he won’t be reinstated when first eligible. Manager Bruce Bochy estimated this evening the four-time All-Star could be two to three weeks away (relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). According to Grant, deGrom will meet with team physicians next Monday to determine whether he can start to ramp up the intensity.
The Rangers are understandably going to be cautious with deGrom’s arm health. He’s battled forearm and shoulder issues over the past couple years, resulting in an extended chunk of missed action between 2021-22. deGrom returned at peak form in last year’s second half and the Rangers made him the highest-paid pitcher of the offseason, inking him to a five-year, $185MM guarantee.
Through his first six starts in a Texas uniform, the star hurler has tossed 30 1/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball. Among pitchers with 30+ frames, only Spencer Strider has a superior strikeout rate to deGrom’s 39.1% clip. It’s exactly the kind of rate production for which general manager Chris Young and his front office had hoped, though the longstanding question has been how many innings they can expect deGrom to shoulder.
With deGrom out, Dane Dunning has stepped into the final rotation spot. Dunning was a solid back-of-the-rotation arm for Texas between 2021-22 and threw five scoreless innings against the Angels last week. He’s a capable fill-in, though his move to the rotation puts added pressure on a bullpen that has been shaky of late. Dunning was arguably Texas’ best reliever for the first month, tossing 20 1/3 frames of 1.77 ERA ball.
Exactly what happened last year with the Mets…..
Out for a bit. They were being cautious. Wound up being out for a lot.
When does the PRP injection happen? It amazed me Justin Verlander got Tommy John at like 38 and won the cy young his first year back? Usually older guys, after the age 35 don’t take and opt for retirement like Cliff Lee did? When he almost got into a fight with Jimmy Rollins in Rollins contract year and Marilon Byrd spoke up for him? “You know what? I ain’t gotta worry about my performance cause I’m not in a contract year? What’s with the counrty music all the time man?”
Then Cliff Lee retired and went to go live a life of peaceful secludedness, didn’t even show his face for the 10 year anniversar yof the championship team..
Probably didn’t show up because Cliff Lee wasn’t on the Phillies championship team in 08…
Maybe it’s time for deGrom to move to the pen. Guy’s far too fragile to stay as a starter. He could be the Rangers closer.
They didn’t pay him to close though.
“They didn’t pay him to close though.”
You can think outside of the box, though, and use him as a multiple inning “closer”. An old school reliever. Maybe shorter appearances allows him to stay healthier as he’s not exerting himself for five innings at a clip. No idea if that would work, but imo it’s worth trying. Otherwise, you’re stuck in this cycle of injuries.
He would make a great weapon out of the bullpen! Especially in the playoffs, he could be a game changer like Tyler Matzek in 21 or Andrew Miller in 2016.
I am open minded. Not against it. Don’t care what they do with him. Just seems too soon for them to give up on him as a starter. It’s not like they weren’t aware of his injury history. Do they want him as a reliever? Does he want to be one? Do medical experts say it’s likely it will keep him healthier?
Not a bad idea kinda of like John smoltz did later in his career.
It’s worth a shot. His significant uptick in velocity and his inability to not throw every pitch at maximum effort from 2020 to now leaves him in a constant state of inflammation and injury. At the current rate, he will never see 25 starts again in his career. 2-3 innings, ever 3rd or 4th day makes him a great regular season weapon. As for the playoffs, that’s another matter.
@dreamGM – they didn’t pay him to hang out on the IR either. Want to get something back, may have to take their medicine. 5/185 is a lot of money to a known gamble. Maybe it’s wise to hedge their bet.
What exactly do you think “hedging a bet” means?
Right now, they ain’t paying him to start
It would be outrageous in the sense that he’d be the most overpaid reliever in the history of baseball. However, I think if he actually wants to stay on the field it seriously might be to time to consider the shift. The move to the pen has saved careers in the past, and will continue to do so
Moving him to the bullpen would be worse. He’d have to throw almost every other day if that happened.
Depends. Can he ever pitch back to back games? How quickly can he get loose? Not always a necessity during the season but essential in post season.
Relievers often get warmed up but never pitch. They probably throw with some intensity at least 4 times a week. I could not see deGrom doing that for 26 1/2 weeks for a season. He’s more likely to stay healthier as a starter.
Literally you can put anything on bread.
Except crazy glue. I mean, you could, but…
I wonder how he is with the bat. Make him a DH like Ohtani.
It’s a shame. I prefer it when he pitches.
As a Mets fan, glad he became someone else’s problem.
Yes, him opting out of his contract has turned out well. Of course, Verlander has pitched less than Jake.
True, but they only have him on the payroll for the next two seasons. The Rangers are looking at five years of this.
Maybe he should try to be a closer? Wouldn’t that protect the arm and stuff a bit more if he’s throwing less game intense pitches?
Obviously, his paycheck is not that of a closer.
Pineapple on pizza just doesn’t go.
Ever heard of the Hawaiian? People love it!
I’m not Hawaiian, and I love pineapple on my pizza (add anchovies, peppers, and pepperoni and it’s just about perfect).
That should be a crime imo
No matter how you slice it or Dole it out.
This is gonna be a what it was gonna be- he will pitch the occasional gem, he will have the occasional run of 4 or 5 starts with a 0.20 ERA or something like that, but he’ll be injured through, miss or or be ineffective for 25 out of every 34 possible starts,
He’ll give them a total of 35 high quality starts over 5 years, he’ll give them a total of 70 perfectly cromulent starts over 5 years, he’ll miss close to 100 starts over 5 years, etc.
A guy worth $51M a season if he made all his starts. A guy who’s effectively being paid $5M per quality start…
He isn’t worth it, but he’s just electric enough in the occasional start or run of starts to trick the game into thinking he’s worth it.
Feels like it should’ve been a Byron Buxton type deal: $15M guaranteed, with an additional $250k per start, with an additional $100k per inning pitched, etc. with bonuses for time spent off the IL, for starts completed or ended without an injury issue being the cause, etc. where he could end up earning $51M a season, but if he’s a complete disaster, they’re only out $15M a year for the potential of having him on their roster and with all the incentives built in, he’d be paid for what he was actually worth based on how long he stayed healthy and effective.
Obviously it’s still early, but this contract looked really bad from the start, and he’s already missing 3-4 weeks and it’s only May. And he’s been pulled three times I believe.
Why any team would have signed Rodon or deGrom to a multi year deal is beyond me. It sure isn’t about fielding a winning team as the replacement for the injured pitcher comes from the minors and wasn’t good enough to make the club after spring training ended. SMH.
A year is bad enough…..
Rodon got 6 years / $162m while deGrom got 5 / $185.
I’m sure that at times both those players will do great things for their team. But for the majority of their contacts they’ll be wildly overpaid and eat up too much of the payroll for the team to make other moves that would give them a better chance to be successful.
The good agents find the most desperate owners and FO heads every off season.
Yeah both those contracts were absolutely baffling to me. The only way either of them truly can become worth the contract for who those players are along with their regular injuries that involve missing more time than pitching is if their teams are just still really good without them and make the playoffs. If the pitcher is healthy for a postseason run and pitching to their best abilities to help actually win a World Series, then that contract just became worth it. That’s a tall order, especially for the Rangers.
With ML pitching, the best ability is…availability.
He’s not moving to the bullpen. They did not give him $185 million to close, and when he’s actually been healthy the past couple of years, he has still been elite.
That is a big when.
Or a little when, depending on how you view it.
Last year’s numbers are deceptive. He’d rack up strikeouts through the first three innings and then tail off. He was also prone to the home run and hittable in his last several stats including his one postseason game against the Padres.
Langford, Norris, Keough, and McCatty. Can you imagine what deGrom could accomplish if he pitched 400 innings or so a year like those guys did? You’re lucky to get 150 out of him, and granted those are high quality innings, but availability has never been his strong suit. We tolerate his 3-4 week absences for the mastery of what he does provide.
His body would shatter into a million pieces
God… those Rangers’ City Connect jerseys are hideous. Hopefully they dump those after this season and start over with a new design.
Not as bad as many of the softball uni’s teams wear. Classless. Tasteless. We live in an uncivil and sloppy society. MLB learned from the NBA and NFL to be money grabbers.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are two games up on the Angels for the AL West lead.
If not for this dumpster fire of a bullpen, the Rangers would right there with the Rays for the best record in all of baseball.
The Angels played crummy baseball the first 3 weeks of the season.
It’s early May.
Injuries will determine the teams that make and don’t make the playoffs. That’s what MLB has come to. I like both the Astros and Angels far more than the Rangers, all things being equal.