11/17/24
June 07, 2023
Jacob deGrom Needs Tommy John Surgery: Six starts into his five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers, Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery on his UCL and be out all of this season and most of next. The Rangers are leading the AL West at 40-20 and were hoping to get him back for the playoffs. "The man is the best pitcher on the planet when he's healthy, but there's one little problem. He's never healthy," writes Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Ugh. He'll be 36 before he pitches again. A return to former greatness after another Tommy John seems like too much to hope for now.
posted by rcade at 05:19 PM on June 07, 2023
This news is about as surprising as Amy Winehouse's autopsy result.
posted by TheQatarian at 06:40 PM on June 07, 2023
Oh yeah, I'll be impressed if he's able to string two starts in a row together at the major league level. In an ideal world (lmao) Texas will have hit on enough of those young arms and have a studded out rotation (can't forget about the prospect of Kershaw returning home) in place and Grommer can work in a hybrid occasional-starter/long-reliever/specialist role. If anyone can navigate that kind of situation successfully, I'd think it'd be Bochy.
posted by Ufez Jones at 06:41 PM on June 07, 2023
He may not be headed for a second Tommy John, but this is a pain the Nationals also know all too well. Stephen Strasburg signed a shiny new contract in winter 2020 on the heels of being named 2019 WS MVP. Since then, he's only pitched 31 1/3 innings, and the prospects seem to only ever get worse.
posted by bender at 07:15 PM on June 07, 2023
It's a bummer for sure, but nobody can be surprised. Seems like DeGrom is taking is hardest of anyone, which is understandable given the stage of his career.
To put a positive spin on it, assuming he undergoes a full rehab, the Rangers will have a hell of a mentor for Brock Porter and Cole Winn and Jack Leiter and Owen White and Kumar Rocker (who just underwent his own Tommy Johns a couple of weeks ago) as he works his way back through the system.