Both deGrom and president of baseball operations Chris Young declined to go into specifics of what the Rangers came to him with, and it’s unclear if it was a specific trade proposal or a general sentiment. But deGrom continually emphasized that he wants to be here and wants to win here. That’s why he asked for the no-trade clause in the first place.
“I'm not going to comment on any specific hypotheticals, because there were hundreds of them over the last several days,” Young said. “What's out there may or may not be perfectly accurate. What I would say is that any time a player believes in this organization and wants to be part of this and believes in that, then I think that says something about this organization, the job we're doing and what they believe they can accomplish. The power of that is strong.”
deGrom, a back-to-back NL Cy Young Award winner with the Mets in 2018 and '19, would provide a boost to just about any rotation in baseball. The 13-year veteran and five-time All-Star is 7-7 with 135 strikeouts in 113 2/3 innings.
The 38-year-old has averaged just over five innings per start this season and has held opponents to a .231 average while producing a 1.14 WHIP.
“Look, we haven't played our best baseball,” deGrom reiterated. “We're capable of winning, and I truly believe in this group. Like I said, the goal was to be here and help this team win. We have to play better. I think we can, and I think we're going to. So I wanted to be a part of that. … I also haven't pitched to the best of my ability. I feel like moving forward, we're going to make the adjustment. We're going to win games.”
The Rangers were caught between buying and selling leading into the Deadline.
As recently as July 28, after taking three of four from the Mariners at home, Texas was two games up in the American League West. Now, entering Deadline Day, the Rangers were 2 1/2 games back of the Astros in the division after a brutal road trip in which they went 1-5 between Tampa and Houston.
That made the Deadline fluid for the front office, regardless of deGrom’s decision regarding his no-trade clause.
“We were prepared for any scenario,” Young said. “Sometimes the best deals are the deals you say 'No' to, and I think we did a good job of doing that and staying disciplined, as well.”
