As trade rumors continue to swirl around Jacob deGrom, count Mets third baseman Todd Frazier among those hoping the ace right-hander isn't going anywhere.
"I've said it before, you can't trade a guy like Jacob deGrom," Frazier told MLB Network Radio on Wednesday. "That guy can be a top pitcher in the league for seven, eight, nine more years to come, for sure."
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deGrom certainly has been one of the top pitchers in baseball during 2018, leading all qualified hurlers with a 1.69 ERA and recording a 1.01 WHIP with an 11.2 K/9 rate in 101 1/3 innings.
"He's just nasty man," Frazier said. "He's just exciting to play behind."
But despite deGrom's dominance, the Mets have gone just 6-10 in his 16 starts. That includes a 2-8 record in deGrom's outings since the outset of May, as the club has scored 26 total runs during the righty's 10 starts in that span. Twelve of those runs came in one outing on June 18 against the Rockies.
A deGrom trade is not a foregone conclusion, of course. As MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal has reported, the Mets' asking price for the 30-year-old is astronomical and will likely cause many interested clubs to balk. He's still under team control through 2020 and is an incredible bargain at $7.4 million this year, although he'll be eligible for arbitration after this season.
So unless New York lowers its demands or another team makes the Mets an offer they can't refuse, deGrom may be staying put.