The Rangers land Jacob deGrom with a five-year, $185 million dollar deal. That’s $37 million per year:

The 34-year-old deGrom, who has spent all nine seasons of his major league career with the New York Mets, opted out of the final two years of his contract despite throwing just 64? innings in 2022. He missed the first four months of the season with a stress reaction in his shoulder, and injuries had limited him to 224? innings over the past three seasons.

Texas looked past those issues and to the potential for deGrom to be a transformative figure in the organization. He shattered industry-wide expectations of a shorter-term deal with the five-year package that sources said includes a sixth-year option to bring the contract’s total value to $222 million.

ESPN.com

I expect deGrom to produce 16.5 WAR over the course of this contract, which means the Rangers are paying $11.2 million per WAR. That’s not an unreasonable cost per WAR. If Texas can keep him healthy for two seasons deGrom will earn most of that.

Jon Heyman, writing in the NY Post, thinks the deal was a mistake:

Nutty or not, good for Texas for wanting to get back in the ballgame in a big way. But is deGrom — who threw virtually the same number of 2022 innings as closer Edwin Diaz, and unlike Diaz not ever the eighth or ninth inning — worth double what Diaz got?

Is deGrom — who’s virtually the same age as Clayton Kershaw and not nearly as accomplished — worth nine times in total pay what Kershaw is reportedly getting?

The answers are so obvious it’s not worth this extra sentence.

NYPost.com

Nice bit of comparing apples and oranges there. deGrom, of course, did not get nine times what Kershaw received. Kershaw’s early deal seemed to be a home-town discount to stay in LA. That’s what free agency is about, having the freedom to choose where to play. As for the starter versus relief innings, I doubt Diaz is going to throw 160 innings in 2023, but deGrom just might.

Finally, isn’t this what everyone who complains about the owners wanted? All last off-season we heard the owners don’t spend enough. Now one spends enough, and reporters think they wasted money! The Rangers just raised the salary level of every free agent pitcher out there. Next season, when Kershaw is a free agent again, do you think he’ll take $20 million? Everyone who wants players to get more of the MLB revenue pie should be overjoyed with this deal.