The New York Mets figure to be sellers before the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
Just don’t expect them to move Noah Syndergaard.
Syndergaard’s name undoubtedly will come up in trade rumors over the next couple of weeks, but one MLB general manager recently told ESPN’s Jeff Passan he doesn’t believe the Mets will deal the hard-throwing right-hander.
Another GM jokingly added, per Passan, that New York’s asking price for Syndergaard is “a few arms and a leg.”
The skepticism over the Mets’ willingness to trade Syndergaard is understandable. Syndergaard, who turns 27 next month, is one of the most talented pitchers in baseball and is under team control through 2021. He’s also in the midst of a relatively disappointing season by his standards, meaning the Mets wouldn’t exactly be selling high and therefore might be better off waiting until he recaptures his elite form.
Simply put, the Mets don’t need to trade Syndergaard right now despite their disappointing record (43-51). They theoretically can trade their impending free agents — like Zack Wheeler, Jason Vargas and Todd Frazier — for prospects before the deadline and then reevaluate their situation this winter.
Syndergaard, an All-Star in 2016, is 7-4 with a 4.55 ERA, a 3.81 FIP, a 1.24 WHIP and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 18 starts this season. Injuries have proven problematic in the past, but Syndergaard’s upside among starting pitchers is nearly unmatched across baseball.
