WE FEEL YOUR CAUTION, TEXAS

Hey Rangers: Mets know all about taking it slowly with ace righty

New team, same story. Jacob deGrom was slated to throw his first bullpen with the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, but general manager Chris Young told reporters it will be pushed back a day or two due to tightness in his left side. Young doesn’t want his condition to worsen in cold, rainy conditions in Arizona.

“It’s as much about it being Day 1 of spring training as anything,” Young told reporters. “He’s been throwing. His arm feels great.”

Young said deGrom, who signed a $185 million, five-year deal in December, wanted to participate in the first workout of spring training. The GM said deGrom has already thrown about six bullpens. He felt tightness after his latest bullpen a few days ago.

“Nothing major, but having him come in today with the weather conditions, I made the decision that we’re going to hold him off from throwing for a day or two until we can treat him and things return to normal,” said Young, a former big league pitcher. “We wanted to make sure that we play things slowly.”

The 34-year-old has an extensive injury history and was unable to break camp with the Mets last year. He went a year in between starts after being shut down in 2021 and starting the season with a stress reaction injury in 2022. Earlier in his career, the two-time Cy Young Award winner also had

Tommy John surgery and ulnar nerve transposition surgery.

The former Mets’ ace signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Rangers in December, spurning the team that drafted him. The Mets completed a deal with Justin Verlander at the winter meetings a few days later, but it did little to take the sting off of his departure for fans, especially since deGrom never talked about his reasons for leaving.

DeGrom has remained friendly with members of the Mets and Buck Showalter even helped him find a place to live in the Dallas area. However, the manager still has not received an explanation for the departure either.