The Texas Rangers have an interesting offseason ahead as they prepare for the 2026 MLB season. One of the things that the Rangers must achieve this offseason is cutting their payroll, and spending over $225 million the last three seasons on their players, just for them to have regressed from 2023 when they won the World Series, is not ideal.
To help in this, the Rangers went on to non-tender Jonah Heim and Adolis Garcia, but they need to do more.
For the Rangers to easily slash their payroll, they can look to move on from Jacob deGrom. With deGrom now being 37, he is the most expensive player on their roster with a $38 million salary and $37 million AAV, while still having two more years left on his contract.
Jacob deGrom hasn’t been a bad player for the Rangers, but with them not currently having a competitive roster, on top of his contract, he no longer fits into their current team timeline. Instead, the Rangers should look to trade him this offseason.
The Texas Rangers could have the perfect trade partner for Jacob deGrom as well, and that is the Chicago Cubs.
*THIS IS A PREDICTION, NOT A REPORT*
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The Chicago Cubs came off an impressive 2025 season, and are turning into a team that can contend on a yearly basis. The Chicago Cubs’ front office made it clear that they’re trying to advance their pitching with at least another quality starter.
As Justin Steele still has to make a comeback from elbow surgery, the Cubs’ need for pitching advances as they must fill out their depth to make sure it can stay stable throughout the entire season.
For a Cubs team that needs to advance their pitching, Jacob deGrom is the ideal trade target. Now, he isn’t nearly as dominant as he was when he was with the New York Mets, but last season on the Rangers, he showed some resemblance of his elite talent once again as he had a 2.97 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and 27.7% strikeout rate.
Jacob deGrom’s ability to generate elite chase and whiff rate, would be the exact type of pitching boost the Cubs need to reach the next level in 2026.