2023 AL Cy Young Award odds: New Rangers righty Jacob deGrom favored, but already dealing with injury concern as pitchers and catchers report

Major League Baseball is back! Pitchers and catchers officially started reporting to spring training camps in Florida and Arizona today – pitchers and catchers playing in the World Baseball Classic reported Monday – and every team will have opened camp by Thursday. Is there already some discouraging news out of Texas Rangers camp in Surprise, Ariz.? Big-money free-agent addition Jacob deGrom is the +500 favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award but is dealing with soreness in his side (the New York media has jumped all over it) and has pushed back a throwing session.

DeGrom is the best starting pitcher on the planet when healthy and won two NL Cy Young Awards with the Mets. They were fine with making deGrom one of the highest-paid players in the sport but did not to give the injury-plagued right-hander a long-term deal in free agency. The Rangers offered five years and $185 million, so deGrom headed to the AL for the first time.

From 2018-21, deGrom posted a 1.94 ERA with an average of 12 strikeouts per nine innings. He was off to a historically good start to the 2021 campaign with a 1.08 ERA through 15 starts but then was shut down for the season. Last year, he didn't debut until August and made only 11 starts. His 3.08 ERA was his worst since 2017.

Rangers general manager Chris Young said Wednesday that deGrom felt tightness in his left side during a bullpen session earlier this week, and would not take part in the team's first workout today or throw again for another day or two. The team is downplaying this as a normal occurrence this early in spring camp and due in part to the unusually cold weather in Arizona, but with deGrom there are always red flags. He is scheduled to start Opening Day in Arlington against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 30.

"It's as much about Day 1 of spring training as anything," Young said Wednesday morning. "We're more about planning for March 30. It's cold and wet and we're going to have to alter some of what we do anyway. He's six bullpens in. He's competitive and wants to be out there. This probably says more about me than it does him."

DeGrom is +1200 to lead the majors in strikeouts this season – the Yankees' Gerrit Cole is the +550 favorite -- and +1700 to lead in wins. His career high in wins is just 15 (2017) and his career high in strikeouts is 255, which he set in 2019. Those Ks led the NL but were well behind Cole's MLB-best 326.

Only two teams have never had a Cy Young winner: Colorado and Texas.

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