Colorado Rockies: If you can’t beat Jacob deGrom, trade for him

The New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom just dismantled the Colorado Rockies on Monday, throwing eight innings of five-hit ball. deGrom walked one, struck out seven, and finally got a little bit of run support en route to the Mets’ 12-2 win over the Rox.

deGrom currently leads the major leagues in ERA at with an unfathomable 1.51 mark, just ahead of the curiously resurgent Justin Verlander’s 1.61 mark for the Houston Astros. It is also well ahead of the next closest competitor, reigning two-time NL Cy Young Max Scherzer, who’s 2.06 would be a career best. Imagine that – Scherzer is somehow pitching better than he did last year, yet he currently stands over a full point of war behind deGrom, 3.7 to 4.8.

The Mets’ predicament

The Mets, meanwhile, have degraded around deGrom into a structure that is unsound, both on the field and organizationally. They’ve criminally undersupported the pitcher who, despite starting 15 games and pitching the second-most innings in the league (behind Scherzer) has only five wins to show for his trouble. The 12 runs the Mets scored on Monday is more than they had scored in his last eight starts combined, a stretch of incompetence that must be silently infuriating to a competitor like deGrom.

The Mets have milked all they can out of their 2015 World Series also-ran team and now stand a dismal 31-38 – a mark that looks a lot worse when you consider they started a lucky 11-1. The team currently sit at fourth in the NL East behind the improving Phillies, the still excellent Nationals, and the young, dynamic, division-leading Braves.

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The Nationals’ window may be shrinking. However, they just traded for Kelvin Herrera and aren’t content to give up their title hopes just yet. The Braves and the Phillies are both just starting to graduate their young talent and are looking like they could both be good for at least the next half-decade. It’s time for the Mets to start rebuilding and the best place to start is with their ace.

deGrom could not have more value than he does now, given how incredibly he’s performing, his age (29), and his team-friendly contract. He has also shown some injury potential in the past, including an incident in May where he hyperextended his elbow during an at-bat. Even though deGrom only missed the minimum 10 days, he (and every pitcher, really) could lose all of his value on any given pitch in any given start.