One could make the argument that the New York Mets' Jacob deGrom has been the best pitcher in MLB since 2018. He won back to back NL Cy Young Awards in 2018-2019, finished third in NL Cy Young balloting in the COVID shortened 2020 season.
Last season, deGrom went 7-2 with a sterling 1.08 ERA in 15 starts striking out 146 in only 92 innings pitched. But the reason deGrom only made 15 starts was because after the All-Star Break he went on the IL after experiencing forearm tightness and subsequently had elbow inflammation. He did not pitch for the rest of the 2021 season.
And now he is likely to miss much of the 2022 season with shoulder trouble after an MRI revealed a stress reaction on his right scalpula.
Entering his 9th big league season with the Mets, deGrom is 33 and his body might not be able to hold up to the rigors of pitching in the major leagues even if he does it better than anyone else.
In which case, I wonder if the Mets might have to do with deGrom what the Atlanta Braves did with John Smoltz two decades ago. After missing the 2000 season due to Tommy John surgery, the Braves brought Smoltz back as a reliever and he was one of the game's best closers for several seasons in his mid-30's. Smoltz then resumed his career as a starting pitcher in 2005 and pitched into his early 40's before being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.
The prospect of having to face a fresh deGrom in the 9th inning could make him even more invincible to big league hitters than he is now. He certainly strikes more fear into hitters than Edwin Diaz does. Diaz is a free agent at the end of this season and if deGrom cannot muster more than 90 innings as a starter it might be best to pitch those 90 innings out of the bullpen come 2023.
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