Texas Rangers High Cost Free Agent Leaves Game With ‘Soreness’

A lot of baseball fans are getting their "I told you so" social media posts ready after last nights' Texas Rangers' game. Where the Rangers' prize free agent acquisition has forced to leave the game in the fourth inning.

Starting Pitcher Jacob deGrom was removed from his start after he suffered "wrist soreness" while pitching against the Kansas City Royals. At the point he left the game, deGrom had thrown 4 no-hit innings, with only one walk, and a baserunner by error...meaning that he wasn't pulled due to performance with "soreness" being used as the scapegoat. He was throwing a great game, suggesting there was legit concern.

Here's what deGrom told reporters after the game...

This season, deGrom has pitched 20 2/3 innings with a 3.48 ERA. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is an insane 32:3 so far this year. Which is basically the reason that the Texas Rangers gave him a 5-year $185 million contract this offseason. Even if many fans were against it.

Why would you be against signing a guy with this much skill? Because deGrom has a long history of injuries. Since 2019, deGrom has never been healthy enough to pitch more than 92 innings in a season.

Even though deGrom won back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019, he had only pitched over 150 innings in one season before those two years. He has absolutely electric stuff, but the question of whether or not he could stay on the mound for a full season, and be reliable late in a year, gave fans a lot of pause during free agency.

So now, if deGrom is shut down for any length of time, after just 20 innings into his Rangers career, there will be a lot of "I told you so" happening in Texas.