Reese Kaplan -- Two Cy Young Winners' Seasons Do Not Start Well

In the realm of be careful what you wish for, everyone who is a legitimate Mets fan probably was hoping to see former multi Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom face plant on his opening start for his new employer, the Texas Rangers. After all it was an unexpected departure that left the Mets, their fans and the media all wondering why after getting nothing but support for several years that deGrom opted out of his contract here and fled south. Consequently people were a bit miffed and hoping for less than the best outing for deGrom's Opening Day Texas start.

Of course, quite a bit of that hostility flew out the window when Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler snagged Justin Verlander to replace him. Currently the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, the 40-year-old Verlander came in at Max Scherzer money to fill deGrom's shoes. With a season in 2022 that included a record of 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.830, it was not as if the Mets were going to suffer much with deGrom's departure.

On Opening Day for the Rangers deGrom was surprising healthy but did not deliver ace-level pitching. He went 3.2 innings and struck out seven while walking none. That is unfortunately where the good news ends. He gave up six hits and five earned runs including one over the fence. His ERA to begin his Rangers reign is a ghastly 12.57. While folks were expecting injury woes to derail his career, they were not predicting this type of pitching line.

For the Mets, however, it was an injury that shelved Verlander pushing him quickly onto the IL and bringing back a return of a home opener by Tylor Megill. The injury is not considered major and the quick trip to the IL for a 40 year old pitcher is the prudent thing to do. It is doubly ironic that while Mets fans expected all kinds of IL-time for deGrom, it was not part of the foresight people saw for Verlander. A 12.57 ERA start is certainly not good but playing at all is better than not playing.

As this parallel 2023 history continues to unfold, it's entirely possible that deGrom hits the shelf at some point himself as he has not exactly been an iron man when it comes to his physical well being. It's also entirely possible that a brief delay to Verlander's Mets career is just that and he will go on to pitch at a pre-Cooperstown level. 

The point is that both of these stellar pitchers are under the microscope for their new teams and people will draw ongoing comparisons to determine who was better off with their personnel, the Rangers or the Mets. The Texas folks are on the hook for 5 years and $185 million guaranteed. The Mets are on the hook for 2 years and $86 million. A lot of it is going to come down to the two pitchers' health. Right now it's too soon to tell, but we are indeed watching how these deals measure up.