3. Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets, $14.685 million value; $9 million salary
DeGrom deservedly won his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award with an 11-8 record and 2.43 ERA in 32 starts encompassing 204 innings. In so doing, he continued what has become something of an NL tradition, Tim Lincecum (2008-09), Clayton Kershaw (2013-14) and Max Scherzer (2016-17) all having also gone back to back with the award.
As has become DeGrom presumption, his teammates gave him minimal run support. In 10 of his 32 starts, they scored two or fewer runs, and that fact as much as any other accounted for five of DeGrim’s eight defeats.
If there was a blemish on DeGrom’s record, it was his workload. At heart DeGrom was a 7-inning pitcher; only once all season did he face a batter in the eighth inning. That held his innings total down to 204, the 10th highest total and valued at $5.224 million.
His other numbers were all superb. DeGrom fanned 255 batters, the MLB’s fourth highest total and worth $3.03 million. His 167 ERA+ was the sixth-best, contributing a final $6.158 million.
Logically, the Mets have signed DeGrom to a $160 million deal through 2024 that will pay him $25 million in 2020 and then average out to about $35 million per season. He won’t actually earn that much for his on-field contributions but he won’t have to. Few players are as much the face of their teams as deGrom is the face of the Mets.