Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that the Mets are now listening to trade offers for most of their players. That includes aces Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, though the Mets do have a preference as to which one of them they’d be more inclined to moving.
“The Mets would be more open on right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who has not pitched since May 25 due to a strained ligament in his right finger,” Rosenthal writes. “Syndergaard is under control through 2021, one year longer than deGrom.”
In addition to being under team control longer, Syndergaard is much younger — Thor is 25 years-old while deGrom is 29. While deGrom is obviously the better pitcher (and not exactly old), Syndergaard isn’t too bad of a pitcher himself, so the fact that he’s younger and is under team control longer only increases his value.
“A team interested in deGrom would need to part with a ‘boatload’ of talent, one source said,” Rosenthal writes. “But as with deGrom, the Mets would not move Syndergaard unless they received an offer they deemed appropriate (which of course, describes every team’s approach to every trade).”
To be clear, Rosenthal is not saying the Mets have decided to be sellers at the deadline and are dead-set on trading one of their aces. He’s confirmed what everyone thought, that if the Mets were to trade deGrom or Syndergaard, they will be asking for a king’s ransom from the other team. After all, there is no real reason to trade them, other than to bring in a huge haul of top prospects.
After the Mets two straight wins against the Diamondbacks, they seem to be picking up some steam. If they put a run together, a staff also including Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler, two pitchers who have been improving quite a bit, would be a solid rotation for a playoff team. If the Mets do decide to sell at the deadline, the decision should not be made in haste.
