What had been expected for sometime, has finally happened. Jacob deGrom signed a 5 year., $185 Million deal with the Texas Rangers. The deal comes after the team failed to capitalize on their 101 win season, losing to the San Diego Padres in the wild card playoff game.
deGrom’s departure, as I mentioned before, was expected. the native of Northern Florida had desired to be closer to his family, and Dallas market gives him that opportunity. But, with the departure of Jacob deGone, I mean, deGrom, there is a larger issue, and the question that begins to surface, is whether this is indicative of a systemic problem with the Mets organization
deGrom is not the first pitcher of note to walk away from New York in the last few years. Zach Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, and Marcus Stroman, all bailed on the Mets organization, all for the same, vague reason, either they didn’t want to be Mets, or there was an issue where the team did not feel the need to match or offer something different in return for them staying.
The Mets are fundamentally broken. In the last few years, there has been a systemic culture shift within the organization, even before the team was sold to Steve Cohen, when the pragmatic Sandy Alderson was pushed out and replaced with eager hotheaded agent Brodie Van Wagenen, whose tenure as Mets General Manager saw the farm system gutted, and the team shooting for star names, instead of building through the draft and through the minor league process.
In 2020, Steve Cohen fired Wagenen, and brought back Sandy Alderson, but Alderson’s pragmatism was somehow stifled behind high profile moves. Bringing in Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, and the 36 year old, injury prone, Max Scherzer. Alderson’s tenure was further dampened by Billy Eppler, who also had been incapable of building a winning ballclub.
The culture that has emerged in New York is a toxic, broken environment, a team of ignorant, self-absorbed fans led by clueless executives, narcissistic ownership, and foolhardy, self-centered players
The Mets of old, the hard working, team built from the ground up, the team New York stuck by no matter what, is dead. What remains is something I don’t even recognize.
Maybe they’ll come back, or maybe I’m fooling myself into believing they can change. Either way, come back here for more updates on all things news, and sports.