. Not about his contract demands. Or the health of his arm.They had been on a Zoom call in the days ahead of Thanksgiving. It was the Rangers’ chance to make an impression on the free agent pitcher. It was also their chance to find out if deGrom was the right fit for them.. “A lot of players want to be part of the reward. It’s hard. There’s hard work ahead and we’re still building. The reward will come, but you’re going to be part of the solution and there’s a path to the reward.
Young and Bochy have spent time around multiple Cy Young winners and seen the impact they have on a staff. In the case of Young, he learned firsthand from Greg Maddux, the four-time Cy Young Award winner, when both were with the Padres in 2007-08. Bochy had Randy Johnson, a five-time winner, in 2009 in San Francisco. Both pitchers were in their 40s at the time. They were finishing out their Hall of Fame careers with unfamiliar teams as mere shells of their former selves.
This, Young said Monday, is the kind of thing deGrom will bring to Texas. With one small twist, of course: deGrom, who is 34, can still pitch.