Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that multiple teams have interest in the acquiring Noah Syndergaard in a trade with the New York Mets before the July 31 MLB Trade Deadline. However, Morosi notes the team isn’t taking offers, yet.
One of the teams that has shown interest is the Milwaukee Brewers, who have had interest in the right-hander in the past, specifically before the 2018 MLB Trade Deadline and this past offseason.
Another team is the Houston Astros, who were among the teams intrigued by Jacob deGrom last season in hopes that the Mets would be willing to deal him. That obviously isn’t happening this time given deGrom’s massive extension this past offseason.
While it would not be totally shocking if the Mets would consider such a move for Syndergaard, it certainly wouldn’t appear to be a top priority, given the fact that the team almost certainly has to trade Zack Wheeler since he will become a free agent this upcoming offseason. The team also is shopping Jason Vargas after the incident that happened last month in Chicago with Mickey Callaway and Tim Healey of Newsday.
Todd Frazier and Juan Lagares are other players that are set to become free agents after the season and could find themselves playing elsewhere before the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Syndergaard is under control through the 2021 season and is making only $6 million this season in his second year of arbitration. He will have two more given his Super-Two status.
If the Mets were to trade all three pitchers, that would leave the Mets with just Jacob deGrom as a lock in the rotation, with Steven Matz likely re-entering it out of necessity despite the fact he ended the first half in the Mets’ bullpen. That would still leave three spots in the rotation to be filled with drastically less appealing options such as Walker Lockett, Chris Mazza, and Ervin Santana potentially taking the final three spots.
Syndergaard would obviously cost a significant price with his amount of control left, but starters like Marcus Stroman, Matthew Boyd, and Trevor Bauer also have control after this season for teams that would potentially acquire them.
On top of it, the Mets would be forced to potentially sell low on Syndergaard, who is in the midst of the worst year of his career as he currently has a 6-4 record, 4.68 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 1.278 WHIP, and 101 strikeouts in 105 2/3 innings (17 starts). He’s also dealt with injuries over each of the last three seasons, which is a risk any team would have to be prepared to take on.
Whether or not this is just rumors or a legitimate consideration on the Mets’ part remains to be seen, but Brodie Van Wagenen has so far proven to not be shy on pulling the trigger on big deals so there is certainly no reason to rule it out on July 1o with three weeks left until the trade deadline.
