After heating up and winning the World Series in 2015, the New York Mets appeared to be primed for several more seasons. They had not made the playoffs since 2006 until that season. The Mets possessed a collection of youthful players that for a while seemed to keep them in the running for the championship, but that did not work out in the end. A large portion of their underachievement was caused by injuries to Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard, who made up their starting pitching group. Nevertheless, Syndergaard overcame injuries to become a celebrity.
He had a 3.03 ERA across 25 starts in 2018 and 4.28 ERA over his 32 starts in 2019, but Tommy John surgery kept him out of the entire 2020 season and limited him to two starts in 2021.
Although New York made him an offer for 2022, he chose to sign a one-year contract worth $21 million with the Los Angeles Angels, who traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies of the Mets’ rival division for the second half of the season. He was employed in the postseason and made 10 appearances for the Phillies during the regular season. But Syndergaard had a terrible season in 2023, with an ERA of 7.16 when playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers and 5.40 after being traded to the Cleveland Guardians. In the end, he was released, raising doubts about his ability to pitch in the Major Leagues.
The righty’s market has reportedly heated up in free agency, though, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post, with many teams, including the New York Yankees, expressing interest in him. The Yankees are one of the roughly fifteen teams that attended one of Noah Syndergaard’s pen sessions. He was reportedly in his mid-90s, although it’s unclear how interested they are,” he shared on social media. Despite their winter search for arms, it appears improbable that the Yankees would deploy him in the starting rotation.
