When the Texas Rangers handed Jacob deGrom a five-year, $185 million contract ahead of the 2023 season, there was always a risk involved since he hadn’t been consistently healthy following the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

But after he had made just nine total starts with 41 innings thrown as a Ranger, deGrom turned back the clock this past season at the age of 37 and proved he is still one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.

That earned him the American League Players’ Choice Comeback Player of the Year honor, although the 2.97 ERA he had across 30 starts this season could have him finish with some Cy Young votes for the seventh time in his career.

Now, as Texas gets ready to turn the page on the short-lived era led by Bruce Bochy that resulted in the franchise’s first-ever World Series championship, there are expectations that deGrom will continue being the guy he showed to be this year.

However, before it gets to that point, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report put together some wild trade ideas for the upcoming offseason, and he has the Rangers shipping deGrom out of town to the Los Angeles Angels to get right-handed pitching prospect Ryan Johnson in return.

Rangers Would Get Back Highly-Ranked Prospect in This Hypothetical

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The whole reason why Miller put together this trade idea is because Texas is looking to shed payroll. So if that really is their top goal this winter instead of trying to field a championship-caliber roster, then sending out deGrom would go a long way to help that.

“… deGrom is owed $38 million in 2026, $37 million in 2027 and has a conditional option for 2028 that could become a $37 million player option if he finishes top five in the 2027 AL Cy Young vote. And after enjoying quite the renaissance year with 30 starts and a sub-3.00 ERA, there are probably some deep-pocketed owners who would be happy to take those $75 million-$112 million off the Rangers’ hands. … One of those owners is almost certainly the Angels’ Arte Moreno …,” he wrote.

It should be noted that deGrom has a full no-trade clause, which is something Miller highlighted. But if deGrom didn’t and the Rangers actually wanted to ship their star righty out of town, it would be interesting to see if this return is something Texas would accept.

Johnson is not only ranked second in the Angels’ pipeline, but he’s also considered the 96th-best prospect in all of baseball. While that feels a little low when it comes to a one-for-one swap after deGrom had the season he had, Johnson is also 23 years old and showed some flat-out dominant stuff in the minors before he struggled during his MLB debut this past season.

The Rangers aren’t going to move deGrom even with their clear goal of trying to reduce payroll, but it would be fascinating to see what they could get if they put him on the trade block.