You know how classic car guys will find a rare and exotic car and rarely drive it? They keep it in a garage, under a protective tarp, or in an airport hangar—somewhere far away where it’s protected from the elements. It’s called protecting their investment.
It’s not a car you own to drive. It’s a car you own to own.
They saw it at a classic car auction, just gleaming and shiny and rare, an old muscle car they had always dreamed of owning since they were kids but never could afford. And they just had to have it. So, they dipped into their life savings and bought it and had it delivered and took it out for a spin around the block on a Sunday morning when there was very little traffic around. And that one brief trip around the block made the tire fall off. They noticed it needed a lot more work than they thought.
Driving it would require a lot of extra love and care to make sure it didn’t fall apart. So, it sat there in the garage, under a wrap. Classic. Shiny. Coveted. Expensive.
I thought of that yesterday when I read the Rangers plans for Jacob deGrom this year. He has yet to throw an inning in spring training and won’t until Friday. He as tossed only twenty-five pitches total, that coming in a bullpen session on Sunday.
He won’t be the opening day starter. He will slot into the fifth spot in the rotation. That means, less is expected of him. He is the arm that will get skipped when there are off days, which there are a lot of at the beginning of the season. He will be the arm on a very short leash, putting the burden of innings each start he makes on the bullpen.
The plan is to give him four spring starts to build his arm up to where he can go five innings. If he gets through five innings in a regular season game, the Rangers will be thrilled.
The one thing you don’t want to do with a classic car is drive it. You want to avoid road dust, sunlight, shadows from clouds, incontinent birds, harmful UV rays, the damaging gaze of human eyes looking at it, wear and tear on the engine, that sort of thing.
The one thing you don’t want to do with a classic pitcher is let it throw a pitch. Every time deGrom lets the ball fly, it could be his last pitch. The Rangers made such a massive investment in deGrom, the most foolish thing they could do is let him pitch.
They allowed him to make three starts last season. Three! What? Are the Rangers trying to ruin him? They made him pitch nearly eleven innings last year. That seems excessive.
As crazy and irresponsible as it sounds, the plan this year is for deGrom to get more than three starts and pitch as many as twenty innings. Well, there goes that investment. Like driving a classic car to the grocery store.
Putting mileage on a classic car is not how you retain its investment value. Same with putting pitch counts on a classic pitcher. Let that 1.08 ERA he put up in 2021 sit in the garage for all to admire.
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TODAY’S CACTUS LEAGUE GAME:
Sacramento vs Texas, 2:05
Radio: MLB Audio