Thor Hits Hollywood

Thor is heading for Hollywood. After only two starts for the New York Mets in 2021, Noah Syndergaard is trying his luck on the free agent market. He turned down his qualifying offer from the team to test the waters. He got what he wanted in a big payday. The former Mets fan favorite is heading out west, signing a one year deal worth $21 million to pitch for the Los Angeles Angels next season.

Thor was the big surprise pickup by the Mets when they traded R.A. Dickey. He joined the big club in 2015. In the five years Noah has been in the Majors, he's won double digits in games in three of the five years. He missed all of 2020 and almost all (save for just two innings) last year after having Tommy John Surgery.

There's no denying that Noah has the stuff to be one of the best pitchers in the game and he's joining one of the weaker staffs in the sport in the Angels. Noah's got decent career numbers. He's 47-31 lifetime with a 3.32 ERA. And over 718 career innings, Noah has managed to fan 777 hitters, while walking 166 and allowed just 64 home runs. Again those are good numbers.

But here's the thing that's making me question the deal. He's pitched just two innings in the last two seasons after coming off the arm injury. Some pitchers, when coming back from Tommy John, don't pitch the same way they did prior to the operation. I mean, this is a small sample size, but look at a guy like Matt Harvey. He was one of the bright pitching stars the Mets had, he had the procedure, and some other problems as well, and his career hasn't been the same. I'm not saying that's going to happen with Noah by any stretch. It's just something to look at and be mindful of that's all. Plus, with what the Angels paid him on a one year deal, it seems to be a bit steep.

Looking at this from the Mets point of view, it hurts them too by taking away more of their pitching depth. They had a great young staff in 2016 with Harvey, Thor, Jake, Matz and Wheeler (Bart was there too). Now Jake is the only one left of that core young bunch. This is speaking volumes about what this team is doing. If it wants to get back into contention again it needs to keep some of its young talented arms, not get rid of them. And who knows, maybe after this one year (if there even is baseball this upcoming season but more on that at another time) Thor could find his way back to New York and wear the Blue and Orange once again. Just need to see what happens as the season rolls along.

If this was the last go around for Thor in the Big Apple, thanks for the memories and five good seasons Noah!