When the Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a five-year deal worth $185 million in the offseason, they understood there was a whole lot of risk involved.
They were, and are, a hungry team with money to spend so they decided to sign him.
As long as he was healthy, he gave the Rangers excellent performance: he posted a 2.67 ERA before being lifted on April 28 with elbow inflammation.
While he started a throwing program recently, fans had the feeling something wasn’t right with his arm.
On Tuesday, it was announced that deGrom will be undergoing surgery to repair damage to his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right elbow.
Breaking: Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a ulnar collateral ligament tear, general manager Chris Young announced on Tuesday.
More: https://t.co/ZSJhAYcxaP pic.twitter.com/cR8VDqRU5N
— ESPN (@espn) June 6, 2023
General manager Chris Young confirmed the news.
The writing was on the wall with deGrom, unfortunately: he had a partial ligament tear in 2021 that “healed itself”.
Since then (and also before), deGrom has been dealing with several nagging injuries, a situation that has robbed him dozens of starts since 2021.
On Tuesday, fans got the news they didn’t want to hear.
Unfortunate but is anyone surprised
— ZFARM (@ZFarm__) June 6, 2023
i think i speak for all mets fans when i say this breaks my heart. best pitcher i’ve ever seen we all wanna see this man in the hall. biggest what if story in baseball
— Robert Iadanza (@robo33_) June 6, 2023
The silver lining for the Rangers is that they have done just fine without him, for the most part.
In fact, they have the best run differential and the second-best record in the majors even with just six starts from deGrom.
This sucks so bad, man. Fortunately for the Rangers they've been doing great without him. I really hope he can bounce back after it and get some more great seasons.
— ritz (@ritzdeez) June 6, 2023
They have the potential to contend without him, and when they get him back (probably in 2025), they will be even more dangerous.
Ugh. Baseball is better when Jacob deGrom is pitching. https://t.co/Qrc7zCP7Ov
— Cody Poage (@cpoage9) June 6, 2023
It’s really a shame deGrom won’t pitch for a long time, though.
NEXT: Fans React To Latest Jacob deGrom Absence
