When you look at New York Mets history, only Tom Seaver was better than Jacob deGrom. M. Donald Grant was dumb enough and had a big enough ego to get rid of Seaver.

When Steve Cohen purchased the Mets there was an implicit promise we’d never see the organization lose a legend again. Well, first chance a Mets legend had to leave, he left. That makes deGrom signing with the Texas Rangers Cohen’s Seaver moment.

When Cohen first purchased the team, there was an inquiry as to what it would take to get deGrom not to exercise his opt out. It didn’t get done, and as we would learn, it would never get done.

"We love Jake and we'll figure it out at some point"

Steve Cohen says the Mets don't plan to address a Jacob deGrom extension right now: pic.twitter.com/h20g23S4oy

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 13, 2022

As time passed, deGrom saw the Mets make Francisco Lindor the highest paid shortstop in the game. Max Scherzer was given the highest AAV. Edwin Díaz received the largest ever contract for a reliever.

As for deGrom, well, the Mets never made an offer after the ace officially opted out. Worse yet, they didn’t formulate one, nor were they in a position to act quickly if another team heavily pursued him.

To be fair, there is a conflicting report where the Mets made a very strong opening offer. Notably, the contract was less in terms of AAV than what the team gave Scherzer.

This could be a Jose Reyes situation when signed with the Miami Marlins. The team moved on from the player and never made an offer.

It could also be Darryl Strawberry signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. At that point, both sides knew the relationship was over with Strawberry going to his preferred destination.

Whatever the case, Cohen had the money to keep deGrom, but he didn’t do enough to keep him. If there was a contract that could’ve enticed deGrom to stay, the Mets never got remotely close to positioning themselves to make it. That holds true for whichever report you believe.

If deGrom was going to leave no matter the circumstances, even despite his current and former teammates saying he wanted to stay, the Mets were ill prepared.

If you know deGrom is leaving no matter what, trade him. The package you receive will FAR exceed the compensatory fourth round pick the Mets get for deGrom signing with Texas.

Want to say paying a 40 year old deGrom $37 million was too much? Well, we’re all about to talk ourselves into the Mets giving a 39 year old Justin Verlander $40+ million for multiple years.

We can and will keep going back-and-forth on this. What we’re left with is the best pitcher in baseball no longer resides in Queens.

Whatever we all choose to believe, there’s just the simple truth Jacob deGrom is a Texas Rangers ace. He’s an ex-Met. That was something we never could’ve imagined happening with Steve Cohen owning the Mets.

At this point, there’s nothing left for Mets fans to do but wish deGrom the best and thank him for everything. The Mets front office now has to make sure this doesn’t come back to haunt them.

We will soon find out if this was the best for all involved. Hopefully, it is, and eventually, when it comes time for the Hall of Fame and retiring his number, deGrom will again belong to the Mets just as it should be.