Jacob deGrom isn't a Met anymore. I hoped that'd be a sentence I'd never have to write or say out loud, but the time is here. An all time great called Flushing home for close to a decade, but he chose to move on. While we were writing the history books for him, it was all just a fantasy. Jacob won't be a lifelong Met when he heads to Cooperstown.
As fans, the majority of us love to see passion and love for our team from it's players. It's hard to come to grips that this is in fact a job for them, and those playing it make far more in a year than most of the population will make in their lifetimes. We all know it, but some of us, myself included, sometimes ignore that fact.
That's why for me at least, a guy like Wilmer Flores will always have a place in my orange and blue heart. On that July night in Flushing back in 2015, as the tears rolled down his face, Wilmer likely wasn't just thinking about his job. He was thinking about his home. His coming up through the ranks. Learning English while watching Friends. His family within the team. His relationship with the fans. Gotta love guys like that.
It's every players right to make as much as they can when they can, and I don't blame Jacob one bit for leaving. He was very up front even before the 2022 season started that he was going to test free agency. Not everyone will be a Wilmer, and that's just life.
Jacob deGrom takes out full-page ad in The Post to thank Mets and their fans https://t.co/JS5MK8qLyj pic.twitter.com/5WqcMVupGA
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) December 22, 2022
Jacob was pretty silent after leaving NY close to 3 weeks ago, and I was for sure critical of the decision to wait this long to officially say farewell. Fact is though, he doesn't use social media, and we have no idea what was going on in his camp leading up to today to get this out there.
Is this too little too late? Some fans are saying yes. For me though, what's done is done, and it's a very nice gesture. Maybe I'm a little biased because of the beautiful photo shot by Drea for the background.
I wish nothing but the best for Jacob and his family. He made his choice, and has hundreds-of-millions of reasons to be happy with it. No sarcasm at all, good for him. He may have given the best years of his life to the New York Mets, but unfortunately for us (and him), the surrounding cast at the time wasn't up to par to bring us home a World Series.
Things are bright here in Queens, and luckily the Cohens are willing to stop at nothing to get the Mets back to the top. I hoped Jacob would be a part of that, but life goes on.
LFGM!
Darren Meenan
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