The Jacob deGrom news that many baseball fans dreaded finally dropped earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Texas Rangers announced that deGrom will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL.
It was the worst-case scenario that many Mets fans feared during deGrom’s dominant years in New York, and it was the risk that the Rangers took when they signed the two-time Cy Young winner to a five-year, $185 million contract.
While Mets fans may feel a bit vindicated that deGrom didn’t return to New York, there is the human side to it as well.
WFAN’s Evan Roberts of the Audacy Original Podcast “Rico Brogna” had some strong words for Mets fans that are reveling in the wake of deGrom’s unfortunate injury.
“If you’re a Mets fan who wanted deGrom gone and you think he didn’t want to be here and you couldn’t trust him, you were right in terms of our debate. And I’ll be first to admit it. You were right,” Roberts said (2:15 in player above). “The Mets were better off not investing long-term in Jacob deGrom because now we know what happened, and what happened was he’s probably never going to be the same again. He may never pitch again. It’s on the table that Jacob deGrom never pitches again.”
deGrom will miss the rest of this season and at least a decent portion of next year as well. It’s quite possible that the ace has pitched for the last time, and it’s very possible that he won’t be the same pitcher if he does return.
Mets fans have had a wide range of reactions to deGrom’s injury but Roberts is steadfast in his opinion.
“When you think about everything he did for this franchise, everything he did for us … and then if you saw the press conference where the guy is crying about the fact that he knows what we know which is that he may never pitch again, I question if you’re a Mets fan if you don’t feel bad about what just happened,” Roberts said.
“The time for debates, it’s over. You know why the debate’s over? Because you won and we lost. Now that doesn’t mean it’s going to work out great with Justin Verlander. It doesn’t mean the Mets are going to win. But clearly, just separating Verlander and separating any kind of replacement they could’ve had, Jacob deGrom is never going to be the same.”
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