Memories of Jacob deGrom

[bmfc1]

[whippoorwill]

Very exciting early career and I was pleased that he ultimately outshined Harvey and Syndergaard



I wish him well. Maybe he'll return some day.

[A Boy Named Seo]

No no no no no no

[bmfc1]

My initial reaction, after "OH NO" and "F HIM", is that he wanted to pitch elsewhere because Steve Cohen can outbid anybody for anything if he wants to do so.

[vtmet7]

That is a lot to pay a guy that has averaged 7 wins per season in his last 5 seasons.

[metirish]

I'm staying away from Twitter 🤣



It was certainly a pleasure to with him pitch , all the best I guess, not where I would want to end my career but that money will soften the blow

[bmfc1]

Sadly, I got this right in the "Bochy, Texas Manager" thread of October 21:

"I hope that this doesn't mean that they are "all in" for '23 to the extent that they will do anything to get Jake but Bochy wouldn't come out of retirement for a rebuild."

[TransMonk]

He is the best pitcher I have ever rooted for.

[ashie62]

Uncle Steve was right not to pay that



Jake simply wanted to go elsewhere



Brittle body and Texas' concern now



Sign Verlander and Rodon

[ashie62]

=TransMonk post_id=113723 time=1670031025 user_id=71]
He is the best pitcher I have ever rooted for.

[TransMonk]

I'm too young to have rooted for Tom. I remember Doc but not enough to appreciate his stuff at the time. Every time I watched deGrom, I was aware of his greatness.

[ashie62]

I forget I am old and remember Tom well



However, it is a close call for me regarding Jake vs Tom



Doc was mercurial

[A Boy Named Seo]

=metirish post_id=113720 time=1670030463 user_id=72]
I'm staying away from Twitter 🤣



It was certainly a pleasure to with him pitch , all the best I guess, not where I would want to end my career but that money will soften the blow

[Chad ochoseis]

My memory was that I thought he was a pretty good pitcher.



I dunno. The frequent arm trouble seems more than bad luck and the subpar September performance was too consistently off from the usual DeGrominance to be chalked up to statistical anomaly.



My wild guess, which is pretty bad but no worse than anyone else's, is that at best he has three strong seasons left in him, and $185M is way too much to pay for three strong seasons.



Sucks to lose him, but that contract can turn into an albatross. Justin Verlander has to be a very happy man right about now.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=ashie62 post_id=113726 time=1670031175 user_id=90]
=TransMonk post_id=113723 time=1670031025 user_id=71]
He is the best pitcher I have ever rooted for.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=113731 time=1670033190 user_id=68]
=ashie62 post_id=113726 time=1670031175 user_id=90]
=TransMonk post_id=113723 time=1670031025 user_id=71]
He is the best pitcher I have ever rooted for.

[roger_that]

Sad, woulda liked him to retire a Met, but five years at top dollar violates my principles about signing elderly pitchers. Let the Rangers pay him for what he did (and didn't do) as a Met, and let's pay someone else to head up our starting staff.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

He was a simple kind of man.

[metsmarathon]

on the bright side, our offense just got 20% better, assuming he were to have made all his starts.

[Edgy MD]

WOW.



My memory is that he was inscrutable, and trying to predict what he'd do was folly. The guy's cards were always close to his chest. Except, of course, for the idea that maybe he kept his cards close because this was the card he always knew he'd be likely to play.



I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to play for me.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Let's use the $$ to get that Japanese guy and that other dude

[metirish]

Puma says the Mets never even got to make a final offer, that part hurts a little I think

[whippoorwill]

The one that also hits?

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

That All-Star Game performance - 10 pitches and three strikeouts.

[Fman99]

It was a privilege to watch him pitch in a Mets uniform. I hope he goes 0-32 for the next five years though.

[G-Fafif]

Killed the idea that pitcher wins mattered all that much.



Birthed or at least gave contemporary credence to the idea that lineups never hit for one particular pitcher.



If not exactly THE best Met pitcher I ever experienced, then the best Met pitching I ever experienced on a start-in, start-out basis for the longest, most consistent stretch.



Guy who recognized a deal when he saw it.



I'll miss having a Met who almost automatically came up in MLB discussions as the best at what he does. (Diaz's presence notwithstanding.)

[Ceetar]

I probably won't see dominance like that again. That' rough. Most recent thing that sticks out in my mind was counting swinging strikes on his slider during that start last year, where they just could NOT make contact, and could NOT lay off it.

[Edgy MD]

He didn't start on opening day until 2019, seeing Colón, Harvey, Syndergaard, and Syndergaard get the nod over him from 2015–2018. I fretted that such minor insults to his person would accumulate on the road to this day.



This was mostly irrational, but it stuck with me. If anything, the real frustrating pricks must've been the unholy lack of run support.



Despite the alleged fragility, he's been the Mets' best player almost every year since 2014, and damn close in the few years he wasn't the best.

[Centerfield]

Hey I remember that time he left and made me feel as shitty as I did when Strawberry bailed town.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Jake's played only five full seasons with the Mets: 2015-2019. He debuted in mid-May, 2014. 2020 was severely Covid-shortened. And his last two seasons were plagued by long-term injuries.



There's so many ways to measure "best". deGrom's record isn't better than Seaver's. But if I had to win just one game for all the marbles, and could pick any pitcher from any era to start that game, I'd take the healthy Jake deGrom of the last two years. And I wouldn't have to ponder that decision for even a second. Better than peak Koufax. Better than peak Pedro. Better than any pitcher that ever was or is. Including "Tom".