MLB ace with league-best ERA: 'I'm tired of losing'
The only way Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom can assure himself of a win is to pitch a shutout, because he definitely can’t rely on the Mets’ hitters and their pool-noodle baseball bats to give him any run support.
And according to a new report, deGrom is sick of pitching his heart out and getting the short end of the stick.
Jacob deGrom: "I'm frustrated. I'm tired of losing, to be honest."
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 30, 2018
“I’m frustrated. I’m tired of losing, to be honest,” he said after the team’s 5-2 loss at Miami on Saturday.
deGrom leads the majors in ERA at 1.84, in pitching Wins Above Replacement at 5.0, and it’s between him and the Nationals’ Max Scherzer as the best pitcher in the National League in just about every advanced stat you can name.
If he weren’t on such a garbage team, deGrom would be drawing attention for the Cy Young Award.
Maybe baseball should create the Steve Carlton Award for pitchers who put up great stats on bad teams.
Carlton, in 1972, won the Cy Young while going 27-10 with a career-best (and league-leading) 1.97 ERA on a Phillies team that went 32-87 in games in which Carlton didn’t figure in the decision.
deGrom, this season, is just 5-4 in 17 starts for the last-place Mets, who are 22-47 since winning 11 of 12 to start the year.
Worse yet, deGrom has given up no more than four runs in any of his starts this season, and he has a mind-blowing three no-decisions in games in which he pitched seven innings and did not allow a run.
The Mets have been so awful lately that their 5-21 record in June was the worst record in that month in franchise history, a franchise that went 40-120 in their inaugural season in 1962 and managed to go 8-23 in June of that year, half a game better than this year’s wretched effort.
Making matters worse, the Mets play Philadelphia, the crosstown Yankees, and Washington in July — nine games against teams that are a combined 37 games over .500 when play began Monday.
deGrom is on a team-friendly $7.4 million contract, which makes him a valuable trade chip and simultaneously disincentivizes the Mets from getting rid of a guy who gives them so much production for so little money.
Still, deGrom is rapidly approaching a point where he can, if he so desires, raise an even bigger stink in the media in order to demand a trade.
If that happens, or if the Mets decide they’re going to be terrible while developing young talent, deGrom and fellow pitcher Noah Syndergaard could each be on their way to a contender when the trade deadline comes along on July 31.
But for now, all deGrom can do is continue to put up great stats even without the wins to show for it.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
