If you were paying close enough attention to Mets general manager Billy Eppler last week when he addressed the media, you might have noticed how he referred to Jacob deGrom: as a future member of the Hall of Fame.
Twice Eppler said the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner is a future hall-of-famer. It was an interesting comment given deGrom is not widely considered a first-ballot pitcher, at least not yet. His career 41.1 bWAR is well below that of his teammate Max Scherzer (70.7) and he is not among the top five active leaders.
However, WAR, be it from Baseball Reference or Fangraphs, is not necessarily gospel when it comes to Hall of Fame voting. DeGrom will certainly have a case for enshrinement if he continues down the track he is currently on, and maybe the Mets are publicly pumping up his tires in attempt to lure him back to Queens to build on that legacy.
“We did build the team to be able to pitch in the postseason. We headlined it with two guys that are going to end up in the Hall of Fame,” Eppler said last week in his end-of-season press conference. “Ultimately we fell short at the very end. There are a variety of things that go into that.”
As Eppler said, the foundation of the Mets is built on pitching and the club intends to build a formidable rotation that can pitch the team deep into October. They did that in 2022 and won 101 games but the pitching in the NL Wild Card round did not perform as expected.
Except for deGrom, who played the role of the hero in Game 2. But deGrom has publicly stated his intention to opt out of the final years of his contract with the Mets. Owner Steve Cohen has said he will do what it takes to keep deGrom in Queens, but little is known about what he wants next.
Fans seem to be expecting an imminent departure and while the hallmark of Mets fans is loyalty, many seem to have turned on deGrom over the last few years. Maybe it’s because he, himself, has not exactly pledged loyalty to the Mets, though he has repeatedly lauded the fans. Maybe it’s because of his recent injury history and that they don’t see a pitcher entering his age-35 season with a history of Tommy John, ulnar nerve surgery, neck, elbow and scapular issues as the kind of player you award a record contract to.
Regardless of what the issues are, deGrom is still one of the best pitchers in the game when healthy and has a feel for pitching that cannot be taught. There aren’t many pitchers like him and the Mets are already having to reconfigure their rotation. Scherzer is the only pitcher guaranteed to return next year and the club has yet to decide if they want to pick up Carlos Carrasco’s option for next year. Right-handers Chris Bassitt (mutual option) and Taijuan Walker (player option) could depart as well.
Left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill could step into the rotation next season but Eppler was not ready to commit to using them as full-time starters. The Mets could also choose to make pending free agent Seth Lugo an offer with a guarantee he will be used as a starter. And they could replace one of the departing arms with someone like Carlos Rodon, should he opt out of his contract with the San Francisco Giants.
There are a few other notable arms with club options, like Aaron Nola and Luis Severino. Ex-Met Noah Syndergaard will also be a free agent this winter, though it seems unlikely the Mets would bring back the former fan favorite known as Thor.
Should deGrom depart, the club could always go big with AL Cy Young front-runner Justin Verlander, but he’ll be turning 40 next season. The goal for next year is not necessarily to get younger, but just to get better so maybe Verlander would be willing to take a short-term deal in order to win another World Series.
A World Series would certainly bolster deGrom’s Hall of Fame candidacy and Cohen has a stated goal of winning a championship in the next few years. The Mets are not about to reverse course on how they build a team, so convincing deGrom to come back is crucial.
“I still think we’re going to see big pitching performances,” Eppler said. “This postseason, what these teams are going to roll out there until the end. When you get pitching and it’s the best version of itself, we saw this year, throughout a number of games, when we won some games 2-1 because of who we put on that mound. That’s a recognition of the players and also the recognition of the coaching behind it.
“That’s a really good recipe for success and success in meaningful games and postseason games – having someone on that mound that can carve up a postseason lineup.”