The Mets Should Bring Back Jacob deGrom

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The 2025 Mets slowly collapsed due to unstable pitching staff that desperately needed an ace. Relying on the Frankie Montas and Paul Blackburns of the world ended being unsalvageable. The Mets can't go into next season without an anchor in that rotation. 

Enter the Texas Rangers, who may be cutting payroll!

SOURCE - Given that the team has failed to make the postseason in each of the past two years and very clearly went over budget this year, it’s not exactly shocking that the Rangers would be looking to take a step back of sorts. Texas has around $131MM in guaranteed contracts on the books for next season according to RosterResource, and that number will jump to around $150MM once Joc Pederson picks up his $18.5MM player option for the 2026 season after a campaign marred by injuries and ineffectiveness.

The vast majority of that money is tied up in just four players: Seager, Semien, Jacob deGrom, and Nathan Eovaldi. While those expenditures weren’t too onerous for a team that was spending in the $240MM range annually, as the Rangers have since the start of the 2023 season, a pullback in terms of payroll would leave less room to maneuver around those hefty contracts. It’s unclear just how much payroll is expected to go down at this point, but the club’s previous high-water mark prior to the past three seasons (according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts) was in the $175MM range. With $150MM on the books already for 2026 before considering arbitration raises for players like Jonah Heim and Josh Smith, it’s at least possible that Young and the front office will be facing a significant budget crunch this winter.

The Rangers aren't moving Corey Seager, nor should they. He's the face of that franchise. But shifting off of just one of Marcus Semien, Nathan Eovaldi or deGrom, would make a big dent in cutting salary for 2026.

Now, the next question should be what it would cost the Mets to get deGrom. The Rangers currently owe him $38 million in 2026 and $37 million in 2027. There is a mutual option in 2028 for $37 million but that could be easily declined by the team. He'd also be 40 years old in 2028.

If the Mets were willing to absorb the entirety of that contract, I don't think it would be a large haul to trade for him either. He's about to enter his Age 38 season. Would the market be that robust for deGrom? He is coming off a nice season (2.97 ERA in 173 IP) where he stayed healthy. Would Ronny Mauricio and another decent prospect be enough?

If the Mets could get deGrom, that rotation makes a lot more sense for 2026:

SP Jacob deGrom

SP Nolan McLean

SP Kodak Senga

SP David Peterson

SP Sean Manaea

SP Brandon Sproat

This would give the Mets more flexibility with Clay Holmes too (who I would rather have in the bullpen anyway). Hopefully, they can re-work Edwin Diaz's contract and keep him on on the team so they can use Holmes as a set-up man.

The Mets need an ace. This might be the option that is the easiest way to get one