Memories of Jacob deGrom

[batmagadanleadoff]

Did anybody catch deGrom's introductory Texas Rangers press conference yet? What a bunch of disingenuous horseshit. If he took the truth serum, he'd be honest and say that he signed with Texas because he didn't want to play for the Mets anymore no matter what. Instead, he wanted to play in the slavery belt and the Rangers gave him the best offer of any of the slavery state confederate flag waving baseball teams, which is where he wanted to be all along. He sez that the Rangers want to win a World Series and have a long term vision. That's why he signed with Texas. What a load. The Rangers want to win year in and year out. It would've been neat if any of those reporters asked deGrom if he thinks that the Mets don't want to win year in and year out but it was all softballs and then lame, barely believable answers from deGrom. Oh, and he sounded nervous, too. Nervous and evasive.



The irony is that if deGrom stays healthy and pitches like he's been pitching as of late, the Rangers will have the best chance of winning it all and it will be mainly thanks to deGrom, himself.





[media=youtube]PUDX84YlAfc[/media]

[The Hot Corner]

As in the vast majority of free-agent signings over the years, money is the predominant factor that determines where players sign. Most players will offer up all kinds of superficial and disingenuous reasons for accepting the offer that they chose to sign, but in the end, I believe it almost always comes down to the team that was willing to pay the most money for their services. Very few free agents are honest enough to come out and admit that they simply took the best financial package available to them.



DeGrom is no different than most free agents that have gone before him. He simply signed with the team that that offered the most money to obtain his services.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Hot Corner wrote: As in the vast majority of free-agent signings over the years, money is the predominant factor that determines where players sign. Most players will offer up all kinds of superficial and disingenuous reasons for accepting the offer that they chose to sign, but in the end, I believe it almost always comes down to the team that was willing to pay the most money for their services. Very few free agents are honest enough to come out and admit that they simply took the best financial package available to them. DeGrom is no different than most free agents that have gone before him. He simply signed with the team that that offered the most money to obtain his services.

Agree. Still, I'd like to know why deGrom didn't give the Mets a chance to counter the Rangers' offer. Did the Mets make it clear that they weren't willing to match or to even come close to the Rangers' offer? Because I figure that ordinarily, the Mets had that courtesy coming as the only team deGrom ever played for and there being no animosity between team and player, as far as I know.



Was deGrom worried that the Mets would top the Texas offer?

[The Hot Corner]

I can only guess that in the dialogue between the Mets and DeGrom, the Mets were proposing a contract length that was much less than the 5 year deal offered by the Rangers. Most analyst and "talking heads" I have seen discussing DeGrom's deal with Texas seemed very surprised at the 5 year term. It appears that most of the industry, expected a higher per annum salary on a 3 year term. Going into the offseason, I personally was thinking along the lines of Scherzer's (or Verlander's eventual deal) for DeGrom.



It is not necessarily the annual salaries that are surprising to me, but the length of some of the deals have been longer than I would have expected. Many of the contracts being signed (Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Aaron Judge, Jacob DeGrom and Brandon Nimmo) are of longer length than I would have anticipated going into the offseason.

[Fman99]

Yeah he's full of shit. This is just 2022's Mike Hampton and his undying love of the Colorado school system.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

How soon do you reissue #48?

[roger_that]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: How soon do you reissue #48?

I'd offer it to Senga, since he can't get #41.

[Frayed Knot]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: How soon do you reissue #48?

I'd have no problem doing so but, given their standards of number retirement lately:

- less than 1/2 a career as a NYM (Keith, Willie)

- barely 1/2 plus no championship association (Piazza)

- reaching back decades to pick out a candidate no one really talked about during the intervening time (Kooz)

- a quasi-retirement for a five-year/quarter-career NYM player (Carter)

is there any chance they Don't opt to keep out of circulation and then eventually retire JdG's number?



He spent (parts of) nine seasons here and is often described as be the closest thing to Seaver. And GTS actively bitched his

way off the club, something we (with not a lot of proof) are accusing deGrom of doing only in a more passive manner.

[Benjamin Grimm]

They could keep 48 in circulation and retire it later, like they did with 17 and 36.

[Frayed Knot]

A move which smacks of: 'Yeah, we didn't think it was worthy of retirement back when they left/retired but do now because we get to make a nostalgia/event day out of it'.

[batmagadanleadoff]

If Gary Carter's number is in mothballs, then deGrom deserves to have a statue and Citi Field renamed after him.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I was just thinking of appearances. Like how long after your spouse dies are you allowed to be seen out on a date? Kinda question

[Fman99]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: How soon do you reissue #48? I'd offer it to Senga, since he can't get #41.

I'm 100% good with this. I think it's more likely that Senga takes over #40 now that Bassitt is most unlikely to return.



I give #48 away to the next guy who requests it. You want to salt that number away, you come talk to me when he's no longer an active MLB player. Right now he can eat a hot wet bag of Texas farts.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=Fman99 post_id=114581 time=1670850261 user_id=86]


I give #48 away to the next guy who requests it. You want to salt that number away, you come talk to me when he's no longer an active MLB player. Right now he can eat a hot wet bag of Texas farts.

[Frayed Knot]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I was just thinking of appearances. Like how long after your spouse dies are you allowed to be seen out on a date? Kinda question

If it were up to me personally, I'd free it up by 2024 at the latest.

But based on the current trend of the team's mindset, I don't think is gets re-issued at all.

[Fman99]

I give #48 away to the next guy who requests it. You want to salt that number away, you come talk to me when he's no longer an active MLB player. Right now he can eat a hot wet bag of Texas farts. Same here, exactly. Also, maybe someone can tell deGrom that the Mets signed Senga and Verlander because the Mets dont wanna win the WS.

I looked it up. The Rangers haven't won even 80 games since 2016. So they suck and have sucked and will continue to suck.



They never tell the truth, though, do they? It's always the same old bullshit line. I'm trying to remember one time where a guy said, "Yeah, I signed there, they offered me the most money. I mean, duh." Is anyone going to dispute that?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Of the famous foursome they gave away Matz' 32 the quickest as it went directly to Loup over that off-season. Syndergaard's 34 was less than half a season (Tommy Hunter). Harvey was just more than a calendar year (Hector Santiago).

They gave Reyes 7 directly to coach Bob Geren. It wasn't until Marcus Stroman said 7 was sacred did they mothball 7

[Bob Alpacadaca]

I think it goes to mothballs with 8 and 5 and will eventually be retired. I think those will be at some point, too.

[batmagadanleadoff]

The Hot Corner wrote: I can only guess that in the dialogue between the Mets and DeGrom, the Mets were proposing a contract length that was much less than the 5 year deal offered by the Rangers. ...

Yes, but we know this. That the Mets offered three years doesn't necessarily mean that they wouldn't have come around to offering more years. There are too many major questions about the deGrom contract negotiations that --surprisingly-- remain unanswered. Like why weren't the Mets given a chance to match the Texas offer? And did the Mets ever make it crystal clear that they wouldn't match the Texas offer? Among others.....

[Edgy MD]

I think that, when the Mets state why they opted not to go as as high as another team, they tend to be accused of insulting the player with an ex post facto rationalization.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Did the Mets state why they didnt go as high as Texas? I dont recall. The way I see it, the Mets made an opening offer, that's it. Did the Mets also say that their opening offer was also their final offer?



What I do recall being reported is the Mets asking the deGrom camp to be kept in the loop and informed of whatever deGrom was doing. I wish we had more info. AFAIK, the Mets made an offer and then deGrom signed with Texas. That's it.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I mean, I just can't believe that the NY press hasn't flushed out all of these details by now. We're talking about one of the greatest .Mets ever and an extremely popular player with the fans. Granted, his popularity surely took a big hit this week.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I was just thinking of appearances. Like how long after your spouse dies are you allowed to be seen out on a date? Kinda question

lololol



When Jake bolted, Steve's tweet on it seemed understanding but curt underneath. Like "]
Did the Mets state why they didnt go as high as Texas? I dont recall. The way I see it, the Mets made an opening offer, that's it. Did the Mets also say that their opening offer was also their final offer?



What I do recall being reported is the Mets asking the deGrom camp to be kept in the loop and informed of whatever deGrom was doing. I wish we had more info. AFAIK, the Mets made an offer and then deGrom signed with Texas. That's it.

[kcmets]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=114603 time=1670864138 user_id=68]I mean, I just can't believe that the NY press hasn't flushed out all of these details by now. We're talking about one of the greatest .Mets ever and an extremely popular player with the fans. Granted, his popularity surely took a big hit this week.

[Edgy MD]

The nature of numbers and their availability suggest that it shouldn't be a great feat to keep one out of circulation for an all-time team member who is continuing on with another club, if you smell a retirement in the future.



The Mets equipment manager at the time of Seaver's departure (Herb Norman?) publicly stated that no other player would wear 41 while he had any say about it.



Seaver ain't deGrom and deGrom ain't Seaver, but keeping a number on hold while a player continues elsewhere is easily workable.



If I'm equipment manager, I pull a Herb Norman with everybody, and keep #35 on ice until Joe Smith retires and #2 in reserve until Justin Turner retires. It'd perhaps require a bunch of numbers to be squirreled away for a period, but any former Met who returned would have his number waiting for him.

[whippoorwill]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=114603 time=1670864138 user_id=68]
I mean, I just can't believe that the NY press hasn't flushed out all of these details by now. We're talking about one of the greatest .Mets ever and an extremely popular player with the fans. Granted, his popularity surely took a big hit this week.

[whippoorwill]

Seaver...just as popular, Wright... just as popular, Piazza...just as popular, Hernandez... just as popular. I'm sure there's more.



And that's not even counting my personal favorites, lol

[batmagadanleadoff]

=whippoorwill post_id=114637 time=1670883098 user_id=79]
=batmagadanleadoff post_id=114603 time=1670864138 user_id=68]
I mean, I just can't believe that the NY press hasn't flushed out all of these details by now. We're talking about one of the greatest .Mets ever and an extremely popular player with the fans. Granted, his popularity surely took a big hit this week.

[batmagadanleadoff]

=whippoorwill post_id=114638 time=1670883341 user_id=79]
Seaver...just as popular, Wright... just as popular, Piazza...just as popular, Hernandez... just as popular. I'm sure there's more.



And that's not even counting my personal favorites, lol

[whippoorwill]

Yes I kinda misread what you meant and realized it.



But I was just reminiscing:)