Speaking to reporters at the Winter Meetings on Monday, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said he believed Jacob deGrom chose to sign with Texas because he is “committed to playing on a winner.”
“I think he liked the fact that we are in a process of building a winning culture in Texas,” Bochy said. “A very humble man that he just wants to pitch. And a guy that also wants to be a good teammate that was excited to listen to what we had to offer.”
The Rangers won under 70 games for the second straight season, finishing 68-94 despite spending half a billion dollars last winter on big-name free agents like Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, but the team has continued to show a financial commitment to improving. It was enough to lure deGrom away from a 101-win Mets team that looked much closer to competing than Texas, but in the end, deGrom chose to become a Ranger.
“Euphoria hits at that point,” Bochy said. “I couldn’t have been more thrilled, more excited that we were able to bring him here.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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